OLSO: Norwegian salmon farmers Grieg Seafood and Bremnes Seashore, has been “excluded” from sales to China after supplying incorrect information to their home country’s food safety regulator. The company, which is 60% owned by Grieg and 40% by Bremnes, has received a decision from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority (NFSA) “implying that Ocean Quality is excluded from exporting to China on the basis that it has been provided incorrect information to the NFSA in connection with such export”, said Grieg, in a note to the Oslo stock exchange. This comes as Norway’s direct salmon sales to China increase, after the “normalization” of trade between the two countries. In late 2016, Norway and China began to normalize political and trading relations following a diplomatic row over the 2010 award of the Nobel Peace Prize to a Chinese dissident. Norway is also said to be sending salmon to China via Vietnam, a major smuggling route. In a press release, Ocean Quality said two employees have been suspended after the NFSA uncovered incorrect use of documentation. The employees were not named in the statement. The company has “reviewed and improved internal guidelines to prevent such incidents from happening again”, it said. NFSA’s decision to suspend all exports of Norwegian salmon from the company came on Jan. 31, after it “received incorrect documentation from the company regarding shipments of salmon exported to China”. The decision is based on an inspection at a Bremnes site on Jan. 25-26, said the company. According to the information Oceans Quality AS has, individuals in Ocean Quality AS have, in violation of the company’s guidelines, deliberately re-used former personal declaration forms,” said Oyvind Fossoy, chairman of Ocean Quality.
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