Fears have been raised that fish and other wildlife on the river Itchen are being exposed to lethal chemicals.
The charity Salmon & Trout Conservation (S&TC) claims that Alresford Salads, which processes and packages watercress and other salads for sale, is allowing harmful chemicals to enter the waterway, though its parent company, Bakkavor, disputes this.
The company recently applied to the Environment Agency (EA) for a change to its environmental permit, though the details are currently unavailable. S&TC said: “In the past, it has used chlorine to wash salads, and still uses chlorine-based chemicals to clean down the processing plant at the end of the day’s production.”
A petition, which has gained more than 7,000 signatures, has also been launched to stop the permit renewal. However, a spokesman for Bakkavor…
