
Farmed salmon isn't naturally pink or red - Ultramanoid
https://www.treehugger.com/green-food/farmed-salmon-isnt-naturally-pink-or-red.html
======
rayiner
Some environmentalists grasp at straws to shoot down alternatives that enable
expanding consumption in sustainable ways, because what many really want is to
promote asceticism. New generations of contained aquaculture have gotten
Seafood Watch’s recommendation, correcting pollution and pest problems with
open aquaculture methods. Contained aquaculture offers a real way forward for
sustainable seafood. But salmon raised that way is still white without the
additive. That doesn’t actually have any impact on the healthiness or taste of
the fish. (My wife is a sixth generation Oregonian, where salmon is serious
business, and prefers the taste of farmed Norwegian Atlantic to wild caught
sockeye.)

~~~
undersuit
Why don't the farmed salmon producers just not dye the salmon flesh if it's
just some pointless asceticism?

~~~
elil17
Color is an important part of what makes food appetizing. If all good was grey
eating would be less enjoyable

If anything, food coloring is underused. A pinch of turmeric, while not
particularly flavorful, can really liven up a dish by giving it some color

~~~
tptacek
People seem to have no trouble paying top dollar for halibut, which is also
white.

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magicbuzz
[https://www.abc.net.au/7.30/how-green-and-clean-is-
tasmanian...](https://www.abc.net.au/7.30/how-green-and-clean-is-tasmanian-
salmon/2674252)

There was a longer report I think the above article was based on. I recall
watching the section where a low-level employee talked about adding the
chemical that makes the flesh go pink. The reporter asked whether that was any
concern. The response was “Well, doesn’t everything have chemicals in it these
days?”

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brandonmenc
The Seafood Watch app from Monterey Bay Aquarium is a good resource when
trying to purchase fish that is sustainable and safe to eat.

[https://www.seafoodwatch.org](https://www.seafoodwatch.org)

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TallGuyShort
Interestingly, I just ate brook trout out of a lake in Wyoming, and the meat
was deep pink, almost red. I know each of the trout species are more closely
related to at least one type of salmon than they are to each other, but I've
never seen freshwater fish that color. I can't think of anything in the lake
that's anything like the krill / crustaceans named as the cause of the color
in the article...

~~~
ajross
Trout and Salmon aren't proper clades. What you call the fish depends on where
it lives, not what it's related to. In fact Rainbow Trout and Steelhead Salmon
aren't merely closely related, they are literally the same species and will
interbreed. Lake dwelling trout are the descendents of ocean-going ancestors
that got stuck by dams and floods.

~~~
TallGuyShort
I'm aware - my point was exactly that - Atlantic salmon and brown trout are in
the same genus, whereas pacific salmon and rainbow trout are in a different
genus. Certain combinations of varieties of trout and salmon are more closely
related to each other than other varieties of trout are to other varieties of
trout.

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jbaudanza
I eat the farmed atlantic salmon from Whole Foods several times a week. It
tastes way better than the wild salmon and is half the price.

Whole Foods claims it is responsibly and sustainably farmed. They are
obviously biased, so I can't be certain. But the farmed salmon definitely wins
on price and flavor.

[https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/blog/truth-about-farmed-
sal...](https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/blog/truth-about-farmed-salmon-whole-
foods-market)

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elchief
And it's highly inflammatory. Chronic inflammation is probably the cause of
major diseases

Wild fish is highly anti-inflammatory

[https://harvardmagazine.com/2019/05/inflammation-disease-
die...](https://harvardmagazine.com/2019/05/inflammation-disease-diet)

[https://inflammationfactor.com/look-up-if-
ratings/](https://inflammationfactor.com/look-up-if-ratings/)

~~~
ajross
That link doesn't include any numbers for farmed salmon. There are three
entries in their sample database, all wild (one each raw, baked and canned --
all look healthy enough).

It's also, let's be clear, a front for hawking books and seminars by Monica
Reinagel, a "nutritionist" with no particular science background or history of
work on the subject.

Frankly that's sort of a garbage link. In the real world there's plenty of
science on inflammation in general, but very little conclusive numbers on
diet, and AFAIK absolutely no real work showing an effect as specific as
"farmed vs. wild fish", especially at the significance you seem to be
claiming.

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cannonedhamster
Most meat has dyes of some sort. I'm not sure this is really that big of a
bugaboo. A lot of food in general has food colorants that are entirely made in
a lab.

~~~
tyingq
Beef is quite often packaged with carbon monoxide to retain the "fresh" red
color instead of turning brown after a few days.

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wldlyinaccurate
I'm guessing this is not true for all species of salmon. I've "caught" salmon
from a farm in New Zealand and the meat was a very deep orange-red colour.

~~~
devenson
The colorant is in the feed. Perhaps the fish you "caught" had already eaten
such feed?

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seshagiric
On a somewhat related note, free range non-broiler chicken meat tastes so much
better than the farm-fed ones.

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bufferoverflow
I'd definitely buy uncolored salmon, especially if it were cheaper.

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walru
'Color Added Freshness' was the most surreal term I ever saw posted on a piece
salmon in the supermarket. Not sure I've bought any since.

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shironineja
Cheese is orange as it is also dyed that color.

~~~
p1necone
In my experience _almost_ all cheese is not orange. Orange cheese is a
processed American, and Red Leicester (among other varieties, I just picked a
common one - Limburger anyone?) thing.

~~~
burfog
Almost all _types of cheese_ are not orange, but almost all cheese is orange.
The orange varieties are very popular.

Here in the USA, "orange cheese" usually refers to Cheddar, which is almost
always orange. It has nothing to do with any place named Cheddar; the cheese
would be overripe if shipped that far. You could just about say that this is
our standard cheese.

Other orange cheeses include Colby and American.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colby_cheese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colby_cheese)

The color comes from Annatto. It's a spice.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annatto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annatto)

~~~
p1necone
I don't live in the USA. Very little cheese here is orange. I've never seen
orange cheddar - I think that's a "USA Cheddar" thing.

Edit: I also know what Annatto is. I'm merely pointing out that claiming that
"almost all cheese is orange" is very USA centric. (probably also limited to
only some regions of the USA too, presumably ones you know about - while not
living there I do consume a lot of American TV, and I don't notice all cheese
being orange.)

~~~
burfog
I've lived in 4 states, widely spread around the country. I'm not an urban
dweller.

In a typical supermarket, there might be dozens of types of cheese. Only a few
types are orange. So going by type, it might be only 5% orange. Nevertheless,
the majority of the cheese (by volume or by mass) is orange.

The store might stock one row of sliced baby swiss, for a total of 10 pounds.
The store will do that for several ripenesses of Cheddar (mild, medium, sharp,
extra sharp) times several brands, totaling perhaps 150 pounds of cheese...
but that is just sliced cheese. The baby swiss is only available in slices.
Cheddar is also available in small bags, giving another 200 pounds of cheese.
Cheddar is also available in large bags, giving another 200 pounds of cheese.
Cheddar is also available in half-pound blocks, in one-pound blocks, in five-
pound blocks, in half-pound bags of cubes, and in one-pound bags of sticks.
That is probably at least another 300 pounds of cheese. There could be half a
ton of Cheddar on display. Add in 100 pounds of Colby and 100 pounds of
American, and there is an awful lot of orange cheese.

FYI, most of the non-orange cheese is Mozzarella. Again, this is by volume or
by mass.

People with simple taste in cheese can simply refer to it as "orange cheese"
(Cheddar) and "pizza cheese" (Mozzarella).

The color is a very useful distinction. When you have both types of cheese in
unlabeled containers in your refrigerator, color ensures that the pizza cheese
goes on pizza and the orange cheese goes elsewhere. You don't mix them up.
Without that color, you'd have to label the cheese or taste it before use.

