Aug 28, 2006 3:23 pm US/Eastern
Are Wild Salmon Labels Telling The Truth?
Consumer Reports Tested Several Packages That Claimed To Be Wild Salmon But Were Really Not
by Sara Underwood
BOSTON (CBS4) ―
Salmon is one of the most popular seafood choices on the menu, and many people are opting for wild salmon instead of farmed, even though it costs a lot more. But a Consumer Reports investigation found if you're shelling out for wild salmon, you may be getting scammed.
When you shop for fish, you'll often see farmed salmon as well as wild salmon.
Some people prefer the taste of wild salmon and enjoy the added benefit of fewer chemicals, such as PCB's. But it can cost twice as much as farmed salmon, so you want to be sure you're getting the real thing.
Consumer Reports just investigated salmon. Testers bought samples labeled wild and farmed and sent them to a lab for testing.
It turns out, during certain times of the year, much of the salmon labeled "wild" is anything but.
"We bought 23 samples of salmon in the winter and early spring, and they were all labeled "wild," but only 10 were wild, the other 13 were farmed," said Linda Greene of Consumer Reports.
Consumer Reports also tested salmon purchased during the summer months. "It turns out all the salmon samples that we bought and tested in the summer were correctly labeled," said Greene.
That's probably because the salmon supply is greatest during the fishing season from May to September.
If you shop during these months, Consumer Reports says you're much more likely to get the wild salmon you're paying a premium for.
Now if you do opt for farmed salmon, Consumer Reports says look for fish from Canada, the U.S. or Chile -- that's because salmon from these countries is likely to have much lower levels of PCB than farmed salmon from Europe.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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