From restaurants to wildlife to culture, salmon is a surprising superstar.
Along with salmon's popularity, however, is quite a bit of confusion, which isn't surprising,
considering the multiple varieties, health claims, and concerns about seafood sustainability
that plague salmon eaters.
It's no secret that salmon is good for you, but there's a catch: If it's not properly
prepared and cooked to the right temperature, there's a chance some salmon can be deadly…
or, at the very least, super disgusting.
In 2017, CNN reported that salmon caught off the coast of Alaska were found to be carrying
a type of Japanese tapeworm thought to only infect fish in Asia.
Researchers said it was likely that the worms could be found in any salmon caught along
the Pacific coast, and since they survive while being exported on ice, the larvae can
show up in salmon anywhere in the world.
And yes, people who eat them can become infected.
"I ate something weird!"
That's not the only thing that salmon has been found to carry and spread.
In 2008, the UK's Food Standards Agency warned that any salmon caught in Britain could be
carrying the herring worm parasite, which is potentially deadly.
The country's National Health Service continues to carry warnings about the parasites found
in wild salmon, and stresses that proper cooking or freezing is necessary to ensure larvae
are killed.
Salmon farms are basically massive plots of the ocean set aside for large clusters of
fish.
According to the Watershed Watch, though, anything that's used in raising farmed salmon
freely passes into the surrounding waters, and that's a big problem.
Chemicals used to treat farmed salmon include antibiotics, disinfectants, and antifoulants,
many of which are necessary to keep farmed salmon healthy and — particularly — treat
common infestations of sea lice.
While there hasn't been much research done on just how these chemicals impact wild marine
life, studies have shown that contaminants from salmon farms can cause elevated levels
of mercury in nearby wildlife.
The Guardian described salmon farming as "a chemical arms race in the seas," and in 2019
they reported that Scotland had made a deal with their salmon farmers.
They were lifting restrictions on the size of farms, but in return, farmers were going
to have to agree to much, much stricter regulations limiting the pollution that would be dumped
into surrounding waters.
Is it too little, too late?
Or precedent-setting?
In late 2018, New York's state attorney general's office released a report detailing just how
badly labeled the state's seafood is.
One in every four supermarket samples weren't what the labels said they were and yes, that
goes for salmon, too.
It was found that 28 percent of "wild" salmon was actually farmed salmon, despite costing
about one-third more.
A more extensive, nationwide study done by Oceana found that one in every three seafood
samples were mislabeled.
You might think that salmon's distinctive look would keep it from being misrepresented,
but they say that it's one of the common occurrences of bait-and-switch.
Many times, the salmon labeled as either wild, king, or sockeye was actually farmed Atlantic
salmon.
Farmed salmon is worrying for a number of reasons, and according to Watershed Watch,
one of those reasons is salmons' tendency to escape their farms.
"Three of 'em are Atlantic salmon that escaped."
They're typically kept in net cages, and whether it's a consequence of human error or weather,
a single malfunction can release tens of thousands of farmed fish into the environment.
When that happens, they don't just spread disease and parasites, they compete with native
populations for resources.
They also breed with those native populations and, over time, that results in damage to
the natural biodiversity.
Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch says that since farmed species are genetically
different than wild ones, the offspring that results from interbreeding is less capable
of surviving in the wild, and essentially, farmed salmon becomes a destructive, invasive
species.
So how do you know you're picking the freshest, best salmon you can?
Berkeley Wellness has some tips, and they say that one of the first things you're going
to want to look for is to make sure there's no liquid pooling around the fish.
It shouldn't smell fishy at all, and instead, you should get a mild, almost sweet odor.
"It smells what I call 'salmon-y.'
And it's lovely."
Then, touch the flesh.
It should spring back immediately.
That flesh should also be shiny, with no dark spots or discoloration around the edges.
The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission says that's a sure sign that the fish is older
than you'd like.
The eyes should be clear, not cloudy, and the gills should be bright red.
And, in order to keep it fresh, you should make shopping for fish your last stop before
heading home — preferably to eat it that night.
You should also plan on bringing along a cooler filled with ice to keep your fish from starting
to go off, because there's nothing that'll ruin your dinner plans faster than that.
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