Lawsuit re use of pigments in Farmed Salmon

[GutZ]

It's in the Seattle Times

Is this a ploy by the Commercial Fishing Industry to try and make thier competion look bad?

The pigments used are the same thing that gives "wild" salmon there coloring, canthaxanthin and astaxanthin -- are found in nature, as well, and aren't harmful in farm-raised fish.

"These are the same molecules that make wild salmon pink" Seattle PI article


How many other foods are "enhanced" or colored. One thing I heard this morning relating to this story was that egg yolks are dyed yellow.

I surely hope this frivolous lawsuit is thrown out, and soon too!

[timinthegorge]

No Gutz.... this is a technique used by atlantic salmon farmers to make their products LOOK like "real" salmon, although no amount of coloring will change the taste of that grey, soft, fishey tastin' farm raised fish.

BTW, how many black helicopters are hovering overhead where you live up there in Ballard?

[GutZ]

There are certainly concerns surrounding farm raised fish, but this is not one of them. This is simply an attempt to line somebody's pocket or to damage the "image" of farm raised fish. Remember McDonalds being sued because thier coffee was hot?

I (we're [img]graemlins/eek13.gif[/img] ) not paranoid Tim. Just because you can't see them doesn't mean they're not there. Right?

[DanS]

Just another excuse for somebody to whine and sue. If they feed them carotenoids, then how is that any different from how a "wild" fish turns pink or orange?

[Wood N' Fish]

Sometimes when I hear something like this, it reminds me of the Art Linkletter show "People are Funny". Ironically, at Pikes market last summer, I saw RARE white meated Chinook going for over $20 a pound. WOW!

[timinthegorge]

I'd like to respond to this... but what's the point?

Ok, Wood N' Fish..... Are you aware that there is a white meated Chinook in Alaska that is highly sought after?

Never mind..... Go back to sleep....

[Fast Water]

I think the point is that if they are adding dye to enhance the product for sale to the public, the lable on the package shoud note the additive. That's all. Currently the manufacturers are not breaking any regulation. It looks like there are some people out there trying to change that. (maybe do a little gold digging in the process )

More power to them.

:smile:

[ 04-24-2003, 11:44 PM: Message edited by: Fast Water ]

[Crashin' Bait]

Dang! Free money, where does the line start? :grin:

Unless you have interest in commercial fishing, I don't see your point, Tim. Farmed fish take the heat off of commercially caught fish, both wild and hatchery. Also, it enables those less fortunate than us (those not able to fish the West coast or Great Lakes) to eat salmon. Would you rather give up more of the sport quota to the commercials so that the rest of the world can eat "real" salmon?

[corrirod]

Farmed fish take the heat off of commercially caught fish, both wild and hatchery

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">All the data I've found says differently. Farmed fish breed diseases and parasites that attach to wild fish. These "farmed fish" aren't raised on the farm, their raised in the the ocean. They also escape from their pens quite frequently.

I don't have a problem with them coloring the meat, just put it on the label so I know what I'm getting. They have to do it on all these "so called" juice drinks, why shouldn't they do it for chemically enhanced salmon? Shouldn't be a problem unless they have something to hide?

[GutshotApe]

I caught a chrome bright wild 10 lb. winter steelhead in a creek downstream from Longview one year in December...it was fresh run, still had sealice, and had white meat. Tasted normal.

Ten or twelve years ago ODFW experimented with adding axanthin (sp?) to hatchery trout food for fish ultimately released in the Siuslaw River...anglers liked those red-meated fish...claimed they tasted much better than normal hatchery trout (although blind taste tests showed no difference in taste).

If the merchants added red dye to the meat as a processing step, they should label the meat as such. But if the red coloration is due to their diet, formulated to mimic naturally occurring axanthin, what's the problem? We don't make beef producers label their product with all the food additives cattle receive to make them more attractive to consumers.

[4Salt]

I dunno Corrirod, ya ever try stickin' one of those "nutrition facts" labels on a slimy fish? :grin:

[id. painter]

There is a White salmon. The White Salmon River was famous for this run and named after the fish. My father lives in B.C. and we catch the white meat Salmon often, usually around June and July.
They have a very firm texture and are very mild tasting. If you smoke them they tast like kippered Herring. My brother (wildlife Bioligist ) He thinks that these feed on Bait fish and not shrimp . Hence no pink meat. I dont know if it is true but it sounds good.
These fish are often in the 25- 35 lb class. id. p.

[id. painter]

There are many fish farms near my father home in B.C. Vancouver Is..
The industry is a good thing for the fisherman. But, maybe not so good for the fish. The #,s of sea lice have gotten so high in these pens that they actually harm the fish. They also think that this increase is showing up outside the pens. The pens are just a roped(netted) off section of ocean.
They feed the fish pellets.... id. p.

[Crashin' Bait]

I meant from an economic standpoint, Corrirod. Correction, "farmed fish" are raised on a freshwater hatchery to the smolt stage and then transferred to saltwater netpens for final growout to market size.

Are there any netpens in Oregon? I'm only aware of netpens in the Puget Sound area and in the Georgia Straits.

[ 04-26-2003, 10:36 AM: Message edited by: Crashin' Bait ]