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Why "Organic" Farmed Salmon is Causing a Nasty Smell

Something is fishy about the farmed salmon being labeled as “organic” in your supermarket. When most people see the organic label, they think of a superior product to conventionally raised varieties, from a health, environmental and animal welfare perspective.

In reality, there is not much difference between conventional farm-raised salmon and its organic counterpart. For instance:
  • Both are raised in cages. Whereas conventional salmon cages contain up to 70,000 fish, organic cages contain up to 30,000.
  • Organic fish farmers use coloring on juvenile fish (in the form of phaffia, a processed yeast that contains high levels of astaxanthin -- the same coloring used by conventional farmers).
  • Organic farmers feed both natural and synthetic vitamins and minerals, along with “binders” such as wheat flour.
  • Organic farmers use as many of the same chemicals as conventional farmers as they want. These include pesticide-based anti-sea lice treatments, which have been shown to adversely impact sea creatures and the marine ecosystem, veterinary medicines, and chlorine-based Chloramine-T and formalin, which are used to prevent fungal growth.
  • Organic salmon are slaughtered at 2.5 years old, whereas conventional salmon are slaughtered at 2 years old. Wild salmon, however, can live for up to 16 years.
People who are looking for healthy salmon are therefore only getting at best a slightly better product by choosing organic farmed salmon over regular farmed salmon. The best sources remain wild salmon from Alaska that is certified by the Maine Stewardship Council, along with the more expensive Scottish and Irish wild salmon when available.

Sources:

Dr. Mercola''s Comments Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Farmed fish of any kind, whether organic or not, are a disaster for not only your health but also the environment.

Farmed salmon typically have at least 10 times more cancer-causing persistent organic pollutants than their wild counterparts. And both the conventional and organic varieties are pumped full of antibiotics and chemicals to fend off parasites like sea lice, along with drugs and hormones to accelerate their growth and change reproductive behaviors.

All of these chemicals are necessary because farmed salmon in no way live a life similar to wild salmon. Often referred to as feedlots of the sea, farmed fish are raised in net-covered pens that are tethered offshore in the ocean. The fish are overcrowded, and fish waste and uneaten feed covers the sea floor beneath the pen (which is a disaster for other marine life).

The penned fish face many of the problems that occur in factory-farmed cattle, including rampant disease, parasites, and an over-use of pesticides and other chemicals. 

Also as a result, the muscles of farmed fish do not develop in the same way as wild fish, their coloring is different because they’re not eating their natural diet (so they’re supplemented with artificial color), and they are prone to diseases and parasites because they are crammed into small pens with no room to swim around.

Wild baby salmon are also being infected with sea lice at rates almost 75 times higher than normal while passing through commercial salmon farms on their way to the ocean. Many wild populations of salmon have in fact been devastated by nearby commercial fish farms.

The health risks of farmed salmon have been known for years now, and this latest move to call some of them organic is complete deception.

You can now add organic farmed salmon to the list of organic foods that are a complete waste of your money (along with organic pasteurized milk and organic junk foods).

Why I Don’t Recommend Eating Most Wild Fish Either

The commonsense alternative to farmed fish would be to eat wild fish, but this once healthy food source is no longer safe.

Harmful toxins known as PCBs along with the neurotoxin mercury, are commonly found in wild salmon, as the water they’re swimming in is, sadly, polluted.

If you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, it is especially important that you avoid eating fish, as the toxins can be detrimental to the development of your unborn baby.

True wild salmon that is free from toxins is now a rarity. I have found one such variety of Alaskan wild red salmon that I confirmed via lab-testing to be safe. This is the only brand of salmon that I will eat, and I would encourage you to eat only wild fish that you can confirm has been lab-tested, and found to be safe.

The only other types of fish that I recommend eating are the smaller fish like sardines. Since small fish have shorter lives and are lower on the food chain, they have less time to concentrate toxins like mercury in their bodies. In fact, the smallest fish, like sardines, are often found to be mercury- and PCB- free.

Please understand that you can get the health benefits of eating fish without actually eating them if you take a high-quality krill oil. This marine oil is packed with omega-3 fats, the same ones found in salmon, but you don’t have to worry about toxins.

Krill are at the bottom of the food chain and have virtually no time to grow and acquire toxic heavy metals. Plus, they grow in some of the cleanest waters in the world, in the Antarctic.

Though I know many of you once enjoyed fish for the flavor and the health benefits, if you can’t confirm that it’s from a clean source, I believe the risks from eating it vastly outweigh the benefits.


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Comment on This Article Community Comments (15)
 
 
Posted On Nov 26, 2007
Where are the Omega-3s?  I'll bet you that the "organic" farm raised salmon have the same problem that corn fed beef does compared to grass fed beef---- feed animals feed that is deficient in Omega-3 fatty acids and the meat produced by the animal will be deficient in Omega-3s----and probably have excessive amounts of pro-inflammatory Omega-6s.

 
foxtroter_203
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 9/2006
foxtroter_203  
Replied

Russ Bianchi
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 9/2006
Russ Bianchi  
 
Posted On Nov 26, 2007
Forget the omega -3's Doc, farm rased fish causes cancer in most ingestees.

GM farm fish has malignant tumors in it before even getting onto someone's plate for a meal.

Beware any battered brand of fish, the probability it's farm raised is growing, based on pressure of profit margins.


Dr Rik
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 11/2006
Dr Rik  
 
Posted On Dec 15, 2007

Pen Raised Animals have less Omega 3's and more Omega 9's. The primary source of Omega 6's is vegetable sources. There is nothing wrong with Omega 6 oils, Americans just eat WAY too much due to deep fried and baked foods.

Organic is being co-opted as another useless marketing term. Most people don't know or care the differences between wild/farmed, organic/commercial, free range/pen raised. It's just a grey mooshy neon marketing mess on a label or commercial.

Being an educated consumer requires curiosity, intellect, and discipline. It ain't easy living on your own!


 
 
 
Posted On Nov 26, 2007
How can they call farm raised Salmon "organic".  It seems like an oxymoron.  Salmon are supposed to be wild.

Mary

 
mmc88121
Moderator User Moderator User, Joined On 11/2006
mmc88121  
 
 
 
Posted On Dec 15, 2007

It's really disheartening to me to know that the government allows all this unnatural breeding and raising of our food supply, allowing growth hormones, pesticides, antibiotics, GM foods, unnatural farm raised fish, animals living lives of suffering and misery, no animal welfare in the slaughterhouses. The FDA and the USDA are two useless departments who care more about how fat their wallets are rather than what's good for the consumer. What happened to government "for the people".


 
catuskan60
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 6/2006
catuskan60  
 
 
 
Posted On Nov 28, 2007
Quite a while ago, I asked the seafood merchant about the apparent contradiction on organic farmed salmon.  His response was that the only way a fish could be certified organic is if it was farmed raised - otherwise they had could not certify that the fish were eating organic feed.  Excuse me but I wasn't aware that the small fish and plankton that wild salmon eat out in the middle of the oceans are bing farmed with herbacides and pesticides LOL.  I'll stick to wild fish - thank you.
Cheryl Rounds

 
Cheryl Rounds
Apprentice User Apprentice User, Joined On 10/2006
Cheryl Rounds  
 
 
 
Posted On Dec 15, 2007

Yes but Major you have to Understand that the reason the Government lowered organic standards in the first place was because of Pressure from the Food and Drug Industries and the processing Industries and Monsanto.  You blame the Government for everything but they are just puppets for Corporations.  Who would you truly blame?  The Puppet or the Master?  We the people have lost control of the Government to the Corporations.  I am a Libertarian but I realize that by shrinking the Government you’re helping but not taking full care of the core problem.  Only by dealing with the corrupt power structure and shifting the balance back to the constitution can you heal the disease and not just treat the symptom.


 
Conscious Evolution
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 11/2007
Conscious Evolution  
Replied

allhealth
Novice User Novice User Joined On 5/2009
allhealth  
 
Posted On Jun 16, 2009

you are absolutely right, we all know well what is going on but still giving them the chance cto continue doing what they are doing. Individuals with passion and born with gift to help ordinary people can not say that sertain common food cure or heal, but corporations manufacture the drugs that killing thousands saying sorry and continue killing. They say we need farm salmon and chicken that ready to sloat in 5 weeks time only because there would be shortage of food otherwise. But look around-our planet is huge and it is designed to grow different type of food in different continents all we should do is FREE TRADING, TRUST AND COOPERATION. Who sayed new world order?, who controls population? those whom we never will see or hear they are far above us and feel themselves as if complete different type of people who feed us as pigs with rubbish, chemicals and poison us. bycot, dont buy, dont eat. Guess what? there is always alternative and you willfind the good and cheap food in your local area brought from those poor countries where food growth naturally.


 
 
 
 
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