WildFish has referred RSPCA Assured Limited to the Charity Commission, asking the Commission to investigate whether RSPCA Assured Limited is operating within a charitable remit and reassess whether it should be registered as a separate charity from the RSPCA.
RSPCA Assured, previously Freedom Food, is the RSPCA’s farm animal welfare assurance scheme, which certifies the majority of Scottish salmon farms against RSPCA welfare standards.
The referral (linked here) comes one month after the public resignation of Chris Packham and Caroline Lucas as president and vice-president of the RSPCA, on account of concerns with RSPCA Assured certification.
WildFish’s call for an investigation into RSPCA Assured Limited comes as long-raised concerns about the environmental, welfare and sustainability impacts of open-net salmon farming (click here to learn more) continue to escalate.
Over the past decade, WildFish has repeatedly attempted to engage with RSPCA Assured Limited, formerly known as Freedom Food Limited, to flag the industry’s use of its welfare certification scheme as a greenwashing tool and as a substitute for robust and independent welfare regulation for the salmon farming industry in Scotland.
Rachel Mulrenan, Scotland director at WildFish, said: “We have long-standing concerns about RSPCA Assured certifying Scottish farmed salmon as “higher welfare”, or responsibly produced when in reality the industry is a highly intensive, polluting and environmentally damaging operation that should not benefit from any association with the otherwise good name of the RSPCA”.
“With the recent resignation of the RSPCA’s president, Chris Packham, and vice-president, Caroline Lucas, over their unresolved concerns with RSPCA Assured certification, now is the time for the RSPCA to consider whether it wishes to persist in lending its name to an intensive industry such as salmon farming that is about as far removed from the founding principles of the RSPCA as it could be.”
The past twelve months have seen increased scrutiny on the RSPCA Assured certification scheme, and the role played by the RSPCA in the certification process.
Several undercover investigations last year on RSPCA Assured sites reported finding numerous breaches of its standard, including on Scottish salmon farms, prompting an internal review by the RSPCA.
In August 2024, the first salmon company to have received RSPCA Assured certification in Scotland, Loch Duart, withdrew from the certification scheme, claiming that it was no longer fit for purpose.
Guy Linley-Adams, solicitor at WildFish, said: “Aside from our longstanding concerns about greenwashing, to our eyes, RSPCA Assured Limited operates in an overtly commercial manner that is very unusual from a charity. We have raised questions with RSPCA Assured Limited, but they have not responded, which is why we have submitted this referral”.
“We now need the Charity Commission to examine whether RSPCA Assured Limited, as a private company limited by shares and enjoying the ‘charitable umbrella’ of being RSPCA-owned, should really be considered a charity, with all the [reputational and other] benefits that brings”.
Read the referral
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I totally agree that there should be a rigorous investigation regarding the connection of the questionable RSPCA Assured to the extremely honest and reputable RSPCA. At the moment I consider that RSPCA Assured are besmirching the excellent name and marvellous dedicated work that the RSPCA have done since they began in 1824.