It seems that more and more chefs are
pushing Faroe Island Salmon. The Faroe Islands, located north of
Scotland and east of Norway market themselves as a great source of
salmon. A wise consumer however, with even a small amount of
investigation, will discover that the salmon being touted is farm
raised: not wild. They claim sustainable, clean, and pure farm raised
salmon. Upon closer inspection, the more I investigate, the more I
notice this salmon appearing in the market place at both national and
local levels. The increased market presence of this particular salmon
seems to have been given a boost by a few nationally and locally
recognized chefs.
If you know anything about me or Aroma
Thyme then you know we oppose farm-raised salmon. There are many
reasons for this. I encourage you to investigate further yourself by
checking out the articles and videos that I’ve compiled on my new
website:
www.NoFarmedSalmon.com.
You’ll find documentation covering salmon from farms worldwide.
I acknowledge that salmon farming has
come a long way since the 70s, but there are certain elements to
open-pen salmon farming that may never be acceptable. Of course,
industry proponents say otherwise, while the anti-farmed salmon
advocacy groups are filled with those living in communities that are
directly and negatively impacted by salmon farms. These community
members include scientists, marine biologists, local fisherman and
others who may rely upon their local waters for a living.
Again, while in some areas salmon
farming practices have moved towards a “sustainable” process,
most if not all salmon farms have major flaws to begin with because
the whole notion of salmon farming is really built upon flaws that
don’t really have any answers.
Farms make claims regarding how
excellent and nutritious their finished product is. Sadly, they don’t
tell you what the percentage of die off, how much disease effects how
much of their overall population, or where and how the refuse (dead
carcasses and fish waste) is dumped. Sea lice, for instance, is
something that can cause a great deal of damage in a salmon farm. Sea
lice can attach themselves to the fry (baby salmon) before they
mature and begin growing scales. When a farm is infected, the issue
is not necessarily contained to the farm because most, if not nearly
all salmon farms at no truly closed systems, but rather more open. In
other words, salmon farm “run-off” will find its way into the
local water systems (rivers, lakes, streams, bays, etc...) So, once a
farm is infected sea lice can find their way to the local wild salmon
population. In British Columbia it is estimated that some 60% of wild
salmon have been exposed to sea lice from salmon farms. You’d never
know this to be the case based upon the self-proclaimed statement
found on the Skuna Bay Salmon Farms’ website, “Another wild
salmon save.” The sad reality is that these farms are linked to a
decline in wild salmon population.
We all know the oft stated, “You are
what you eat.” Salmon farms use fish meal pellets that contain an
array of non-natural salmon food. Of course the industry claims how
great this food is. It's basically ground up fish stolen out of other
fisheries from around the world. Instead of these fish being left to
feed the local ecosystem they were born in, they are caught,
processed, and then fed to farm raised salmon. It can take up to four
pounds of wild fish to grow one pound of salmon on a farm. This is
yet another major flaw of the so-called sustainable farm raised
salmon industry. This is clearly a net deficit not just in the food
supply chain, but in other resources as well.
Fish meal isn’t the only thing going
into the diet of farm raised salmon. The industry promotes the notion
of an “advanced diet” for their salmon. Other item that can find
their way into a salmon’s diet is soy, and since soy is used, it is
very likely that more often than not it will be genetically modified
soy. Additionally, there are farms in Europe that now feed farm
raised salmon chicken and pork by-products.
Tell me – on what planet do salmon
normally eat soy, chicken and pork? Seriously?!?! Here too I
encourage you to do a bit of research to learn what is meant by the
term “by-products”. Trust me when I say, you will not be happy in
the least.
Let’s return to the Faroe Islands
salmon. Essentially since the beginning of farm raised salmon there
have been reports of the significant contamination on these farms.
Recently, scientists have issued devastating warnings about the
dangerous levels of toxic chemicals found in the salmon from Scotland
and the Faroe Islands. So serious are these claims that warnings have
been issued to NOT eat more than THREE servings per year. With a
warning like this, why would you even put one serving into your body?
Researchers discovered that highest
concentrations of toxic industrial pollutants (PCBS and dioxins) and
agricultural pesticides (toxaphene and dieldrin) in salmon came from
the Faroe Islands and Scotland. It was surmised that the fish feed
contained oil recovered from the ground-up bodies of tiny sea life
harvested in the North Atlantic - a dumping ground for decades for
manmade toxins. It was also discovered that fish from Norway
performed badly as well. Dr. Foran has also been heard to say that
after his involvement with this study, his family would never again
eat farmed raised salmon.
The U.S. journal,
Science, concluded, "The
consumption advice is that no more than one meal every four months
should be consumed in order to avoid an increased risk of cancer.
Even smaller amounts, it suggested, could trigger harmful effects to
brain function and the immune system.”
Don Staniford of the Salmon Farm Protest Group said, "This
scientific study blows out of the water the myth that farmed salmon
is safe, nutritious and healthy.”
The study did say some of the less contaminated farm-raised salmon
comes from Washington and Oregon State.
The safest type of salmon to eat is wild salmon. Further still,
look for only Alaskan salmon. In fact Alaska does not allow fish
farming so there is no worrying or guessing if it is wild from
Alaska.
With all of this data so readily available on the Internet it is
beyond me why chefs push farm raised salmon from the Faroe Islands or
anywhere else for that matter. When you see the words “farm raised
salmon, Faroe Islands, Scottish, etc…” prominently displayed on
the menus of the restaurants that you patronize, remember that you
would be best to select something else to eat.
As already stated, we recommend wild Alaskan Salmon when you chose
to eat salmon.
