Salmon feeding frenzy raises question of supply

SUPERMARKETS always put on a spectacle when they’re ready to show off their festive food range to the media – and it’s a standing joke they inevitably choose to do so on what turns out to be the hottest day of July. In fact it’s become such a tradition that wisecracks to this effect are considered the equivalent of dad dancing.

Thanks to early print deadlines for the glossies, it is in midsummer we get the first glimpse of what most people will be buying to eat over Christmas. (And whatever you think of supermarkets, they continue to dominate the UK grocery market, which is expected to be worth £179 billion by the end of this year. Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrison’s continue to dominate the food retail market, while the Co-op and Waitrose are having their heels nipped by the growth of Aldi and Lidl which together now have over 10 per cent of the market.)

From the lavish brochure photography and ever-more exotic choice of venues for live media displays, it’s evident this is the most important – not to mention competitive – time of year for the big retailers. Hundreds of spectacular new lines are unveiled every year and the fruits of 12 months’ worth of research and development are, at times, frankly jaw-dropping. Though it has to be said some items are over-the-top in terms of unnecessary indulgence, containing eye-watering levels of sugar, salt and fat.

It seems consumer tastes are becoming ever more sophisticated: Asda has developed a three-tier cold crust pie cake, the largest containing game.

Its party food includes lobster thermidor brioche rolls. There are Achari lamb on mini naans with cumin raita, and treacled pulled gammon edible spoons. Prosecco and craft gins are ingredients in many products.

Among the many variations of brandy-soaked aged puddings, Serrano hams and sophisticated sausage rolls, however, one item is common to them all: Scottish smoked salmon. Expect to see an unprecedented emphasis on it in stores in the run-up to Christmas 2016.

I’m told this is because of growing customer demand, and it certainly appears to have triggered the fishy equivalent of a festive bun fight among retailers.

For the first time, Marks & Sparks has landed the small but longestablished family-run Scottish smokehouse, Lossie Seafoods at Buckie in Moray, part of Associated Seafoods, to produce two signature smokes for its Lochmuir salmon plus a new carpaccio. The company starts work in September on producing enough to satisfy M&S’s vast customer base.

Asda is happily boasting it too has bagged a first: an “extra special” traditional smoked salmon infused with Speyside Caorunn craft gin.

Aldi is offering a new “Specially Selected Exquisite” Rope Hung Boxed Smoked Salmon, and there are literally hundreds of amuse-bouches and canapes containing smoked salmon.

Record volumes of farmed Scottish salmon, almost 180,000 tonnes worth £500 million, were exported last year. With domestic demand also so evidently growing, whether there’ll be enough to go round is another matter.

‘‘ Consumers are becoming ever more sophisticated: Asda has a three-tier cold crust pie cake, the largest containing game