Salmon – What you see isn’t always what you get

Salmon intended for consumption as food
Salmon intended for consumption as food (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

About 40% of salmon sold in the U.S. is wrongly labeled, according to a small sampling done by advocacy group Oceana. That means when you pick up a package of salmon in the grocery store labeled “wild caught,” there’s a four in ten chance it’s actually either farmed or some lower-value fish. Download the full report to see pictures of the various types and grades of salmon.

For those who care about truth in labeling and potential contamination in seafood, it’s nice to know there’s a commission that’s recently made recommendations on reducing or eliminating fraudulent seafood labeling. You can help by encouraging the administration to enforce these transparency standards:

  1. Documentation for all seafood sold in the United States — require details such as what fish it is, whether it was farmed or wild caught, where and how it was caught. This information helps verify that the seafood came from a legal source.
  2. Full chain traceability — require key information to follow the fish through the supply chain, tracking the seafood from fishing boat or farm to the dinner plate.
  3. Consumer information — provide seafood buyers with more information about their purchase, such as what fish it is, where and how it was caught, so they can make more informed decisions.

Meanwhile, you can protect yourself when dining out by eating in restaurants that serve sustainably farmed salmon such as Skuna Bay or at home by using convenience packs of traceable seafood sauces and dishes like those by Fishpeople.