I spoke to our resident 'go to' scientist today ( has a Doctorate in Physics I think) . He holds no shares in the company and had not seen the program - though he had seen the shorts.
Some of his comments
Food colouring is crustacean based (as mentioned above) and unlikely to be of concern especially if not eaten regularly. "Yes its a chemical composition but so is all of life."
Food products in general are more heavily monitored and scrutinised than they have ever been: any deletorious effects would immediately alert the regulators and the media. Producers are motivated to avert such a situation before it occurs.
All intensive farming practices on sea or land will inevitably have some environmenal effects and again if they cross the regulatory thresholds they would be reported. The producers actually have more at stake in terms of sustainability, than anyone else.
He agreed that the risk of contagion could be less for open sea fisheries (being more dispersed). However Tassal seem to have mitigated this risk through its monitoring and adjustment of stocking rates. Still I wonder if they ever do plan to include open sea pens - and if not why not? I suppose it would be the extra production costs and that in itself would have a different set of environmental effects.
Personally, I think this latest exposure should help to keep Tassal on its toes, if it isn't already, both in terms of production and environmental sustainability. I suspect they are and that they are well smart enough not to cook the goose that lays the golden egg.
TGR Price at posting:
$3.76 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
