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SECRET SMOKEHOUSE FIRST IN UK TO OFFER SUSTAINABLE LAND-BASED SALMON

London, 24th May 2023, Secret Smokehouse today announced that it is introducing land-based salmon from hybrid flow-through system [FTS] technology to its UK customers. The land-based salmon comes from a cutting edge technology that aims to provide a more sustainable solution to fish farming, putting aquaculture and fish welfare at the forefront.

Max Bergius, founder and managing director of Secret Smokehouse commented: “We are thrilled to offer this innovative solution to the UK market as part of our commitment to sustainability. We strongly believe that innovation is needed to evolve more sustainable products which provides continual improvements in fish welfare whilst minimising the impact on our planet. Not only is this method potentially better for the environment, the salmon tastes absolutely fantastic and we challenge customers to taste the difference.”  

He adds that, “Since 2019, we have been looking for sustainable, land-based salmon options that provide the highest level of flavour and quality we demand for our products. With the hybrid FTS technology, we have seen this level and we are very happy to be the first in the UK to offer this as an alternative solution to our customers. Looking to the future, it is clear there is no single salmon production solution that ticks all the environmental, social and governance [ESG] boxes. Open net sea farming, off-shore and on-shore farming will all be important to support the growth of a sustainable aquaculture industry with tighter legislation and other factors have to be considered, depending on the local environment conditions and infrastructure. It is also clear that this is a period with many new opportunities, perhaps some learnings still to come but we believe FTS is so far the most interesting option currently available.” The salmon comes from a FTS technology from a land-based aquaculture production facility that raise salmon in a highly controlled environment out of the sea and, importantly, protects the fragile marine aquaculture.

The benefits of FTS salmon production include:

- Higher fish welfare, thanks to an optimised environment for fish growth and welfare - with control of temperature, water quality, feeds, and other environmental parameters
- Enables local production, meaning facilitates can be built closer to populated areas resulting in lower transportation costs/carbon footprint
- Reduced fish mortality rates
- Control and collection of fish waste to reduce pollution discharge to the fragile marine aquaculture and recovering nutrients
- Enhanced biosecurity - protecting fish from pathogens or predators - and lice reduction
- Protecting wild fish populations and surrounding aquamarine environment, including preventing escapees, which otherwise could be a potential cause to decrease in wild stock levels

Products are available to buy from Secret Smokehouse website [click here]. The Land-Based London Smoked Salmon is offered in addition to our existing products. We continue to source the very best farmed salmon and trout from Scotland with its RSPCA High Welfare standards plus our haddock and herring both sourced from British quota controlled waters.

Dear lovely loyal customer,

We have relocated our shop a couple arches up Mentmore Terrace to Arch 378,

E8 3PH

We will not be producing rolls, salad boxes or coffee's.

You will be able to continue to buy fish pies, fish cakes, patés and all the mega smoked fish products.

Shop opening times:

Mon-Fri: 11am-4pm
Sat: 10am-3pm
Sun: closed

For Christmas Orders [click here]

A chap called Jamie Oliver made a film about us.

"In the world of food, there are so many stories where passion and love is at the heart of it, and I want to celebrate this by showing you some of them. This is the story of the Secret Smokehouse, where Max and his team work hard on producing some incredible smoked fish. Have a watch of this guys, and if you like it let me know"

You could say we know a bit about filleting and slicing of a fish, however you're only as good as the tools you have to hand. Here at Secret Smokehouse we go above and beyond to source and produce the best we can. It's therefore not a daft thing to therefore seek out the best knife makers here in the UK - Pole & Hunt.

It gives us huge pleasure to introduce to you this exclusive collaboration set of 5, 7 and 11 inch hand-made & forged knives by the outstanding duo Alex & Ed of Pole & Hunt using super special English Oak to create the handles. It’s taken months of detailed discussion, planning and good old blood sweat and tears to spec these up. Perfection is so hard to achieve and these knives hand on heart are just that, stunning beauties that we will treasure for life. You too can buy these knives exclusively through us and will be on our website very soon. Please note the lead time to craft each or the set will be approx 6-8 weeks.

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Startup London

Inspirational Stories from Creative Entrepreneurs Over 200,000 startups launch in London every year. Here are the stories from 30 of the most creative of them. From King’s Cross to New Cross, from digital apps to distilleries, these small businesses have big ambitions to change the way we eat, shop, play and view the world. This book is an inspirational guide for anyone dreaming of starting their own business, whether it be in London or beyond.

Published by Hoxton Mini Press [website]

Here we are...

Stop press, we have been awarded PGI Status for our 'London Cure Smoked Salmon'.

The hallowed European Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status, enforced by law, is designed to protect and celebrate traditional regional foods, such as Cornish Pasties or Champagne in France. In order to receive this status, the entire product must be processed within a specific region. London Cure Smoked Salmon has to be produced in the London Boroughs of Hackney, Tower Hamlets or Newham.

Fresh Scottish salmon and Scottish wild salmon already have their own PGI statuses. Smoked salmon originated in Jewish communities in the East End of London at the turn of the last century, so this internationally renowned gourmet food finally has a designation reflecting its century old origin and craft.

The ingredients in the London Cure are PGI-protected Scottish salmon, salt and oak smoke.

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We are very proud to announce we are now supplying Fortum & Mason with our Oak Smoked Salmon.

It's a huge honour and privilege to be supplying such an iconic retailer here in the capital. After in depth audit, a lot of compliance and vigorous taste testing we were welcomed into the fold which is an enormous opportunity for us here at Secret Smokehouse to showcase, what we believe, as the best of artisan curing and smoking of fish to such an incredible audience.

We really hope that our partnership with Fortnum & Mason will be long and prosperous, so if you're in the Piccadilly area then please pop in to F&M and buy as much as you can!!!  

 [pic credits: google images]

Max Bergius, owner of Secret Smokehouse chose the all-electric e-NV200 in order to substantially cut his vehicle running costs and reduce his carbon footprint. 

His van, supplied by nearby Nissan dealership Glyn Hopkin, has become the perfect mode of transport for getting around London. In fact, Max estimates he will save up to £4,500 in running costs a year compared to running a diesel equivalent. 

The extra bonus is that Max is eligible for a 100% discount on the London Congestion Charge in the centre of the city where many of his clients, including Michelin starred restaurants, are situated. 

In addition, Max was also awarded funding to help him buy his e-NV200 from the Zero Emissions Network (ZEN), a tri-borough (Hackney, Islington and Tower Hamlets) initiative that helps businesses reduce their impact on air quality. 

Max said: “Secret Smokehouse prides itself on remaining faithful to the fish smoking principles and techniques laid down in the 1800’s where it all began. 

“However, for delivering our produce, including smoked salmon, trout, haddock and kippers, we are using a very modern all-electric Nissan e-NV200 van. This helps to massively reduce every day running costs, while also having a major environmental advantage producing zero emissions on the roads of London.” 

Nissan’s multi-award winning e-NV200 is Europe’s best-selling electric van and running costs start at just 2p per mile. 

Darren Smith, Business Development Manager at Nissan dealer group Glyn Hopkin, said: “Max is investing in a Nissan e-NV200 EV to help save on fuel, tax, parking and congestion costs, while also reducing his emissions.”

Beyond grateful to be included in this months Oliver magazine in the 'Best of British' feature along side of incredible producers.

From bakeries to breweries, the UK’s once-disused railway arches now harbour a fleet of food producers, including Secret Smokehouse, in London’s Hackney. After training at the Billingsgate Seafood School, founder Max Bergius first established the business from his back garden in nearby Stepney. “I was inspired after talking to all the Cockneys who frequent the Peacock Pub,” he says. He discovered the area has a rich history of producing smoked fish, and the techniques used to make Max’s smoked salmon, trout and kippers vary little from those perfected back in the late 19th century by Eastern European immigrants coming to the East End. Jewish settlers realised that the top-quality Scottish fish sold at Billingsgate market could be gently smoked to recreate the dishes they missed from back home, and so the tradition of ‘London Cure’ was born. Most of the east London smokeries died out by the 1970s, but Max is setting out to change that. He sources impeccable fish from independent Scottish producers and cures it with oak smoke, for a delicate result that lets its standout flavour shine through. The whole process, from filleting to salting, pinboning and slicing, is done by hand. “There’s no fishy business,” says Max. “No sugars, no nitrates.” It’s an approach that’s paid off: Secret Smokehouse now supply some of London’s best restaurants, including Bibendum, The Marksman pub and Outlaw’s at the Capital.

We have partnered with Testo to help us with our temperature monitoring that's now fully automated.

All food producers must adhere to numerous regulations, and standards, with the end goal of ensuring the quality and safety of food. A key requirement for HACCP and food safety is continuous temperature monitoring. This involves recording and documenting the temperatures of all fridges, freezers and areas where climate sensitive foods are stored.

The Secret Smokehouse supply high quality smoked fish to some of the UK’s top Michelin star chefs and restaurants, as well as delis and a small group of direct customers. A small, but rapidly growing operation, they were nominated for ‘Best Producer’ in the Observer Food Monthly Awards 2017 and are proud to work with the likes of Jamie Oliver, Claude Bosi and the Clove Club in Shoreditch, to name a few.

The challenge
As a small-scale food producer, the EHO expect the business to be able to demonstrate how it manages HACCP and records what it does to make the food safe. A major part of this, is documentation of temperature values to show produce is stored correctly.

Before implementing testo Saveris 2, Secret Smokehouse were checking temperature using a combination of spot checks with a thermometer and reading the fridge/freezer thermostats. This means all checks are done so manually, and recorded with a pen and paper. Also, as they have since discovered, fridge thermostats aren’t always completely accurate. When opening the fridge or freezer door, the temperature reading on the thermostat dropped very quickly. This would indicate the produce was at a high risk of not being stored correctly. Another issue with the previous methodology, was if there was an issue with a temperature deviation (from a loss of power or freezer door being left open for example), they wouldn’t know until the next check. This could be too late to save valuable stock.

This drove Max Bergius, owner of Secret Smokehouse, to explore options to simplify and, if possible, automate their temperature control. Research lead Max to Testo Saveris 2, with the standout advantages of using cloud software to demonstrate due diligence and the removal of taking measurements manually.

The Solution
Testo Saveris 2 is an automated temperature monitoring system that stores all measurement data in one central place. Multiple measuring points can be incorporated into the system, meaning all fridges, freezers and storage locations are monitored simultaneously, with measurement data being transported directly to the cloud, where results can then be accessed remotely, via PC, tablet or smartphone.. This removes the need to collect data manually and there is no longer a potential for readings to go missing.

In the Secret Smokehouse’s case, they are using a total of 4 loggers to monitor their 3 fridges and 1 freezer. They also use the probe from one of their loggers to spot check fish, once smoked. Speaking to Harri Walters, production manager at Secret Smokehouse, he explained how with the introduction of Testo Saveris 2, they are already reaping the benefits of an automated monitoring system:

Before introducing Testo Saveris 2, Harri would need to perform a series of temperature spot checks; once in the morning and once at closing. The biggest advantage by far is not having to worry about food safety compliance. Testo Saveris 2 provides a straight forward way of proving due diligence and that Secret Smokehouse are monitoring temperature effectively.

Testo Saveris 2 - the advantages
Saves Time Without an automated system in place, an employee has to go through the whole site manually, checking each location. By automating this, all data is sent directly to cloud storage, allowing you / your employees additional time to focus on other important jobs. Reports are also collated and sent to you automatically so you don’t have to lift a finger.

Saves Money
Employing a temperature monitoring system can save you money in the long run, on wasted stock, product recalls etc. If there is a potential problem, thanks to the alarm function, you will be notified immediately, before it is too late.

Secure and Accessible Remotely
All data is stored in one central, secure place. Reports can be sent directly to you via email, so you don’t need to waste time checking each individual logger (or even going to the site for that matter). Alarms can be set to send via email, SMS or App.

User Friendly
Some monitoring systems require time-consuming installation and maintenance but with a wireless system such as testo Saveris 2 it is very simple to get set up and started.

“With the Testo system our temperature monitoring is practically effortless, and we no longer need to worry. All kitchens should invest; as a chef or food professional the last thing you need is additional tasks. Testo have been very friendly and professional during installation and throughout - a pleasure to deal with.” Harri Walters - Production Manager, Secret Smokehouse

More information

For more information on testo Saveris 2 or any Testo solutions please go to www.testo.co.uk or call us on +44 1420 544433 and we’ll be happy to help.