Sun, 10 Apr 2005

Stores Say Wild Salmon, but Tests Say Farm Bred

Apparently, aquaculture is as infested with corporate marketing scum as agriculture:

Wild and farmed salmon fillets and steaks look similar because farmed fish are fed artificial coloring that makes them pink...

Which, interestingly enough, is the exact same technique that factory egg farms use to keep their yolks yellow: lots of marigolds and dandelions.

Food marketing nowadays is based almost entirely on "look and feel", and to Hel with quality and nutrition. The presentation has taken ascendance over taste and even safety - if this tale doesn't make you question the label "organic" that you see so liberally applied on grocery shelves today, I don't know what will.

The only way to be assured that you're getting what you pay for is to buy it from people you know and trust, and even to visit the production facilities yourself for a "consumer inspection". We do this all the time at Hammerstead - but I dare you to try even finding a production facility for a major processor, or attempt to take a tour of a factory hog farm. It won't happen, because the owners don't want you to know - and in this case, what you don't know can kill you.

Tests performed for The New York Times on salmon sold as wild by eight New York City stores showed that the fish at six of the eight were farm raised.

(link) [NYT > Home Page]

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