Why did Dispatches ignore the facts?

The Channel 4 documentary series Dispatches broadcast a “Christmas Dinner” edition at 9pm on Monday 19th December, billed as a “programme revealing the truth about what's in your Christmas dinner”. Focusing, among other foods, on smoked salmon, the programme made a number of misleading claims about fat levels and the health benefits of farmed salmon.

After months of programme making Dispatches contacted Scottish Quality Salmon at short notice to provide a written comment. This suggests ‘agenda TV’ by marshalling negative comments to fit a pre-ordained stance, but ‘allowing’ a last minute balancing comment from the industry to provide objectivity.

However, Dispatches appeared to have presented misleading or inaccurate facts.

· It suggested that, because oil-rich fish also contains Omega-6, a beneficial essential fatty acid (as long as it is consumed in the correct proportions in the diet), salmon consumption may lead to disproportionate Omega-6 consumption. However, the contribution of Omega-6 to the diet by oil-rich fish is miniscule and, effectively, irrelevant compared to the other sources of Omega-6 in the diet such as cereals, eggs, poultry, most vegetable oils, whole-grain breads, baked goods, and margarine. Moreover, the contribution of Omega-3 to the diet from oil-rich fish is immense. As the only readily available source of dietary Omega-3, consuming oil-rich fish is even more important to maintain a balance with Omega-6. Suggesting that eating Scottish Farmed Salmon may have a negative effect on this balance is incorrect. The opposite is true.

· It suggested that higher fat levels in farmed salmon versus those found in wild salmon are, nutritionally, a bad thing. However, these aren’t all bad fats. Wild salmon have low levels of fat and thus low levels of Omega-3 essential fatty acids, the good fats that makes oil-rich fish so beneficial to health. Scottish Farmed Salmon has higher fat levels and guaranteed minimum levels of Omega-3s, ensuring that it delivers the health benefits that so many consumers are seeking. (The guaranteed minimum Omega-3 content is 1.2g per 100g of Scottish Farmed Salmon, but this is frequently exceeded by a factor of 2 or more).

· The programme also made casual criticism of quality, welfare and environmental standards in Scottish salmon farming. However, Scottish Farmed Salmon would not be awarded the Label Rouge mark in France, Protected Geographical Indicator (PGI) status by the EU, and RSPCA Freedom Food and Soil Association Organic qualifications on some farms, unless its quality and working practices were of the highest order.

· Finally, scaremongering is bad for our health. This is, at least, the opinion expressed in this excerpt from the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, following other recent attempts to frighten consumers away from one of the most nutritious – and delicious – foods available:

"The recent decreases in fish consumption have probably been influenced by not only fears about mercury, but also by a widely publicized report in a prominent journal* that farmed salmon contains measurable amounts of organochloride compounds. That publication was particularly troublesome, perhaps even irresponsible, because the implied health consequences were based on hypothetical calculations and very small (lifetime risks of =1:10,000). In contrast, the benefits of eating salmon are based on human data at the doses actually consumed and, as pointed out by Cohen et al.** in the present analysis, are likely to be at least 100-fold greater than the estimates of harm, which may not exist at all. Because the report on organochloride consumption almost certainly contributed to a reduction in fish consumption, that publication likely caused substantial numbers of premature deaths. Although the monitoring of contaminant levels in foods is an important function, reports of findings in places where widespread publicity is likely should be accompanied by at least a qualitative balancing of likely risks and benefits of changing consumption of the foods being considered".

* Hites RA, Foran JA, Carpenter DO, Hamilton MC, Knuth BA, Schwager SJ. Global assessment of organic contaminants in farmed salmon. Science 2004;303:226–9.

**Cohen JT, Bellinger DC, Connor WE, et al. A quantitative risk-benefit analysis of changes in population fish consumption. Am J Prev Med 2005;29:325–34.

Source: Fish - Balancing Health Risks and Benefits, by Walter C Willett MD DrPH, Harvard School of Public Health, Am J Prev Med 2005;29 (4)

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For further information contact either:

Julie Edgar, Scottish Quality Salmon, 01738 587 000 or 0789 987 5151

Ken Hughes, Scottish Quality Salmon, 01738 587 000 or 0797 417 3739