Tesco has halted salmon supplies from Bakkafrost Scotland’s Portree farm on the Isle of Skye after allegations of poor fish welfare surfaced, triggering an investigation into practices at the site and across parts of the salmon sector. The suspension affects salmon destined for the retailer’s premium ranges and comes amid growing public and political concern about the environmental and welfare impact of intensive aquaculture in Scottish waters.
Campaigners say the case highlights long‑running worries about mortality levels, disease and handling standards on fish farms, and argue that large retailers have a responsibility to apply much tougher oversight of their seafood suppliers. Industry figures, however, insist that the sector is heavily regulated and point to ongoing investment in welfare, monitoring technology and new husbandry practices designed to reduce stress and improve survival rates.
A spokesperson for Bakkafrost Scotland said: “This was an isolated occurrence at our Portree site in autumn 2025.
“Our teams were working under extremely challenging conditions to responsibly manage a naturally occurring environmental event. The site is now fallow.”
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Tesco has sought to reassure customers that it is enforcing strict expectations on all of its suppliers and will not hesitate to intervene where standards fall short. A Tesco spokesperson said: “We take animal welfare extremely seriously, and we expect all our suppliers to adhere to our high welfare standards.
“As soon as we were made aware of this concerning footage, we immediately suspended the farm to carry out an investigation with our supplier.
“Any failure to meet our high welfare standards is unacceptable and we take swift action where necessary.”
The supermarket’s investigation is expected to examine what happened at the Portree site, how the incident was managed and whether further changes are required to its sourcing policies for farmed fish. The outcome will be closely watched by producers, regulators and welfare groups, who see the episode as a test of how serious major retailers are about enforcing welfare commitments in complex global supply chains.
