On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 09:49:51 EST, Alex Shvartsman <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >Here is some recent news: > >Farm-raised salmon, which is the kind commonly sold in grocery stores, >contain significantly more cancer-causing chemicals than salmon that are caught in >the wild, warn researchers from the University at Albany in New York, who >tested 700 salmon worldwide > >Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration insists the levels of 13 >pollutants found in salmon are too low for serious concern, this new international >study shows that farm-raised salmon have enough dioxins and other potentially >cancer-causing pollutants that the researchers are cautioning consumers to eat >salmon no more than once a month. The Associated Press reports that the >average dioxin level in farmed-raised salmon was as 11 times higher than that in >wild salmon--1.88 parts per billion compared with 0.17 ppb. For PCBs, the >average was 36.6 ppb in farm-raised salmon and 4.75 in wild salmon > >Answers to the big questions: >Where is most of the salmon farmed that we eat in the United States? Chile. >And that's good news. The pollutant level in Chilean salmon was not too much >higher than that found in some wild-caught salmon, notes AP. >Where are these contaminants coming from? The feed, which is made of fish oil >and meal from just a few species of ocean fish. This concentrates the ocean >contaminants to which the farm-raised salmon are exposed. Wild salmon eat a >greater variety. When any fish or animal absorbs these pollutants, they are >stored as fat and not secreted. So if the fish has the contaminates in its fat and >the fish is eaten by a human, the contaminants that were in the fish are then >stored in the human's fat. However, the salmon farming industry points out >that all the pollutant levels are well within the FDA's legal limits, notes AP. > >Will the farmers change the feed? Many salmon farmers in the United States, >Canada, and Chile doing just that. But it's a slow process. Instead of using >fish oil in the salmon feed, they are switching to soybean oil and canal oil, >which don't have the pollutants. >What level of pollutants is considered safe? The government does not have one >set level of dioxins and PCBs that is considered safe in foods. >What can you do as a consumer? Until the farmers change the feed they use, >your best bet is to buy wild salmon. Wild salmon sells for about $15 a pound, >compared with $4 to $5 a pound charged for farm-raised salmon. >Will cooking help remove pollutants? If you do eat farm-raised salmon, the >FDA recommends cutting off the skin and grilling it. This will remove a >significant amount of PCBs, dioxins, and other pollutants stored in the fish fat. > > > >One a similar note, we have ground buffalo available in a local market, I >called the company and they said that it is grain finished. Do you think it is >still better than grain finished cow meat? Or just as bad? > >Alex I have read in the past that the orange color of salmon comes from a certain algae, or whatever, that they eat in the wild and since farm-raised salmon don't eat the same foods, they have to be artificially colored. I'd just as soon make sure that I eat wild salmon, at any rate. Aileen