Geographic Origin and Processing
Some salmon is labeled according to where it is from, but this does not have any bearing on the species. For example, Norwegian Salmon will be labeled as such, but it is in fact farmed Atlantic Salmon that happens to be farmed in waters off the coast of Norway. Other common examples of this type of labeling are Scottish Salmon, New Zealand Salmon or Chilean Salmon, all of which are farmed Atlantic Salmon.
Sometimes salmon is labeled according to the river it comes from. Most salmon are anadromous, which means that they are born in fresh water rivers, migrate to salt water to feed, then return to the river of their birth to spawn. The longer the river, the longer their return journey will be. Therefore, the more the fish will eat to prepare for the journey, and the fatter they will be when caught just as they are about to return from the sea. That is why salmon are named after their birth rivers – the longer the river, the more sought-after the fish. Copper River Salmon, for example, is wild King Salmon from the Copper River, and is among the most prized.
The terms Lox, Nova or Nova Lox refer to curing processes and are usually made from King Salmon or farmed Atlantic Salmon.
Wild versus Farmed Salmon
In January of 2004, a study published in the journal Science indicated that farmed salmon contained significantly higher levels of toxins, in particular PCBs, than wild salmon. This report set off a great deal of controversy over the safety of farmed salmon.
PCBs are industrial contaminants that were banned by the US in the 1970s, but are still in use in other countries and, unfortunately, still present throughout our environment. Almost all foods, particularly foods of animal origin, contain some amounts of PCBs, but farmed salmon have been found in some studies to contain up to 16 times the level of PCBs of that of wild salmon. The reasons for this higher concentration are twofold:
fish meal fed to farmed fish contains higher concentrations of PCBs than fish that salmon eat in the wild and
farmed fish are bred to be larger than wild salmon and contain more fat, which is where toxins are stored.
Aside from the PCB issue, there are some other problems with farmed salmon. Farmed fish are densely crowded into pens which prevent their waste from being naturally absorbed into the environment, thus contaminating their feed. Fish farms often use pesticides, antibiotics, growth-promoters, colorants and other chemicals on their fish. There are also many negative environmental consequences of large industrialized fish farming, a topic that is beyond the scope of this article.
To begin to address these concerns, a number of fish farms have begun producing salmon that is labeled “organic”. If you are concerned about farmed salmon, it is important to understand what this term means. The USDA sets standards which must be met in order for produce and land animal products to be labeled with the term “certified organic.” However no such regulatory standards exist for seafood. A fish farm can use the term “organic” based its own determination that its practices and procedures merit the term, without government regulation.
