A manager for one of the salmon farms of Arnarlax, the company at the center of the controversy over a sponsorship deal with the National Culinary Team, claims that members of the team came out against the deal due to threats and pressure from conservationists. He told the local news site Vísir that he was surprised by the response.
Read more: Mass resignations from Icelandic National Culinary Team: Reject unsustainably farmed salmon
Previously: Chefs cancel controversial sponsorship deal with salmon farm
Following the mass resignation of 14 out of 17 members of the National Culinary Team the Chef's Club canceled the sponsorship deal earlier today. The club cites the failure of Arnarlax to honor its side of the deal as grounds for its cancellation. Arnarlax had failed to make the first payment due according to the deal.
Suspect conservationists threatened the chefs
Þorsteinn Másson, manager of an Arnarlax farm in the town of Bolungarvík in the Westfjords, told Vísir that nobody raised any objections during the two month preparation and negotiations on the sponsorship deal. Members of the National Team had even prepared foods from farmed salmon produced by Arnarlax at the signing ceremony on August 20:
We have heard rumors, and we have our suspicions that the enemies of salmon farming, who have received a lot of attention from the media, have been threatening the members of the National Culinary Team.
Þorsteinn told Vísir that there had been no stipulations in the sponsorship deal about the National Team exclusively salmon from Arnarlax, or that the chefs were required to appear publicly in support of the company.
Chefs who resigned from the national team have told local media that they were surprised to learn of the deal. They only learned about the sponsorship deal when it was made public, and that only then did the details and facts of the matter begin to seep in. Ylfa Helgadóttir, one of the chefs, told the National Broadcasting Service that the deal came as a total surprise and shock to her and others on hte team.
The deal, she argues, is in complete violation of the principles of the National Culinary Team, which is to only use foods and ingredients produced in harmony with nature and in a sustainable manner.
A manager for one of the salmon farms of Arnarlax, the company at the center of the controversy over a sponsorship deal with the National Culinary Team, claims that members of the team came out against the deal due to threats and pressure from conservationists. He told the local news site Vísir that he was surprised by the response.
Read more: Mass resignations from Icelandic National Culinary Team: Reject unsustainably farmed salmon
Previously: Chefs cancel controversial sponsorship deal with salmon farm
Following the mass resignation of 14 out of 17 members of the National Culinary Team the Chef's Club canceled the sponsorship deal earlier today. The club cites the failure of Arnarlax to honor its side of the deal as grounds for its cancellation. Arnarlax had failed to make the first payment due according to the deal.
Suspect conservationists threatened the chefs
Þorsteinn Másson, manager of an Arnarlax farm in the town of Bolungarvík in the Westfjords, told Vísir that nobody raised any objections during the two month preparation and negotiations on the sponsorship deal. Members of the National Team had even prepared foods from farmed salmon produced by Arnarlax at the signing ceremony on August 20:
We have heard rumors, and we have our suspicions that the enemies of salmon farming, who have received a lot of attention from the media, have been threatening the members of the National Culinary Team.
Þorsteinn told Vísir that there had been no stipulations in the sponsorship deal about the National Team exclusively salmon from Arnarlax, or that the chefs were required to appear publicly in support of the company.
Chefs who resigned from the national team have told local media that they were surprised to learn of the deal. They only learned about the sponsorship deal when it was made public, and that only then did the details and facts of the matter begin to seep in. Ylfa Helgadóttir, one of the chefs, told the National Broadcasting Service that the deal came as a total surprise and shock to her and others on hte team.
The deal, she argues, is in complete violation of the principles of the National Culinary Team, which is to only use foods and ingredients produced in harmony with nature and in a sustainable manner.
