The British supermarket giant, Tesco has suspended supplies of salmon from Bakkafrost’s Portree farm after footage captured in Skye was released, showing diseased fish being dumped in the sea while live salmon were left to suffocate before being shredded.

Campaigners have called for tougher action from the supermarket, calling the moment captured on film a clear abuse of not just animals rights but of the regulations designed to protect both the consumer and the environment.

A spokesperson for Tesco has said the retail giant “takes animal welfare extremely seriously”, adding that “we expect all our suppliers to adhere to our high welfare standards. This footage is concerning, and we have suspended the farm while we investigate with out supplier.

“Any failure to meet our high welfare standards is unacceptable and we take swift action where necessary.” 

Tesco is not the only supermarket brand to work with the supplier. Co-op also sources its Irresistible range from the same factory farm, but has not matched the action of Tesco. In response to the same evidence, a Co-op spokesperson said: “Providing responsibly sourced fish is incredibly important to us and all our Scottish salmon is RSPCA Assured, in line with the rigorous standards we set for our suppliers and our shoppers should be reassured that any indication of poor standards would be immediately investigated and, where required, action taken.” 

Campaigners behind the captured footage – The Green Britain Foundation – however, believes that reassurance is not enough. It’s the organisation’ stance that the footage demands immediate action, including suspending supply from the site while a full investigation takes place. Co-op should follow Tesco Finest by removing Bakkafrost salmon from its Irresistible range until the facts are established and any enforcement action is concluded.

The material was filmed at Bakkafrost’s Portree site between 7 and 13 October, in the aftermath of a catastrophic disease outbreak in which more than 170,000 salmon died at the farm in a single week. While the mortality crisis was still unfolding, the company kept harvesting fish for human consumption at the same disease hit site.

Those fish have since been seen on sale in Tesco as part of its Finest salmon range. 

The footage shows workers illegally throwing diseased carcasses into the sea. On multiple occasions fish are left to suffocate for longer than allowed under RSPCA welfare rules.

Dale Vince, Director at the Green Britain Foundation, said: “What we’ve filmed at Portree is an abuse – not just of fish, but of all regulations, those designed to protect consumers and the environment too. Diseased fish dumped into open water in a Scottish loch becoming food for wild animals and a source of infection is bad enough, but continuing to pull salmon out of the same farm for supply to consumers of Tesco’s Finest and Coop’s Irresistible range – is something else. And if all of this is not bad enough – how about fish being suffocated half to death before being shredded. 

“Bakkafrost’s Portree site is a crime scene, environmental, bio security and consumer safety regulations have all been thrown into the fish shredder. Tesco surely must move to protect its customers and its reputation – and now dump Bakkafrost. Regulators must finally do their jobs, investigate this properly and bring prosecutions where the law has been broken.” 

The Green Britain Foundation will provide the full footage and supporting evidence to investigators and expects urgent enforcement action where breaches are found. 

This is not the first time Bakkafrost’s Scottish operation has come under fire. In 2021 the company received a formal warning letter after being filmed breaching biosecurity at another site. In the last few weeks, a different Bakkafrost farm, that also supplies Tesco, was exposed after claiming it was fallow while still holding lice infested fish that had been left to starve. 

Financially the company is under pressure. Bakkafrost’s third quarter operating profit fell by 87% this year, driven by weak prices and huge losses at Bakkafrost Scotland. At Portree alone, the company has reported mortality of 40% at one site and 28% at a second, linked to gill disease and Pasteurella. 

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We can confirm that the Fish Health Inspectorate (FHI) are aware of an allegation and an investigation is being carried out. We have also passed on the allegation to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).”

Meanwhile, 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.

“We fully and openly cooperated with the RSPCA throughout their review, and they confirmed they were satisfied with the actions we took. We remain fully committed to robust welfare standards and to transparent, responsible farming in Scotland.”

The Green Britain Foundation is calling on all stakeholders to treat this Portree footage as a test case for enforcement, investigating fully and prosecuting where offences are found.

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