Where your grocery store salmon originates

I think that most folk in the PNW are fairly salmon savvy, though I shouldn’t take myself as an example. I’ve had work experience processing salmon in Alaska and also worked for NOAA on their research ships. Since I do a lot of cooking at home, I picky about the fish I buy. So probably not typical.

But, yeah, no point in buying and eating Atlantic salmon, if you live in the PNW. Just buying Alaska-caught salmon makes it simple.

I do wish the Japanese restaurants here would stop using Atlantic salmon. Yes, it is affordable, but it really pales against Sockeye, which I’ve had a couple of times. Oh, but Japan’s Sakura-masu, if you ever see it on a menu, you must try it. It’s totally a level or two beyond anything else. I had it once at Edmonds’ San Kai, and the nigari sushi was so good I immediately ordered another.
 
Of course I go where the welfare people shop to save money. Lately the grocery store has been selling Norwegian Steelhead. I have been trying to avoid buying any farm raised fish. The best way is to buy from the Natives in Cascade Locks, be wary how it is processed... Best way is to catch your own,
 
I can't imagine why anyone in the PNW would buy farmed atlantic salmon (absent monetary considerations).

But I suppose I can understand people in other parts of the country (or world) not knowing the difference.
 
Last month my mom came home with a salmon from QFC. She threw the packaging away and baked it for us. I knew something was up with it after I tasted it so I dug through the trash to find the packaging. It turned out that it was a chum packaged from China (probably caught somewhere in Japan/Russian waters?) which was just branded as generic “wild caught salmon”.

I don’t mind chum, but I do mind deceptive marketing.
 
johnnyboy said:
It turned out that it was a chum packaged from China (probably caught somewhere in Japan/Russian waters?) which was just branded as generic “wild caught salmon”.
Click to expand...
I talked with a guy who retired from the fish processing industry. Pink and chum (and I don't know about other species) caught in AK are frozen and shipped to China for processing, re-frozen (I can hardly believe anyone would re-freeze fish), and shipped back to US and other markets. If consumers will buy it, industry will do it and sell it.
 
Another issue is salmon species substitution. Several studies (see this one by Oceana and this one by Dr. Erica Cline at UW Tacoma) have shown using DNA barcoding that both restaurants and grocery stores often claim to sell higher value chinook and sockeye salmon but are actually delivering pen-reared Atlantic salmon. This even occurs in the PNW. In the Tacoma area, 7% of the grocery store samples were mislabeled, but 38% of the restaurant (often sushi bars) samples were mislabeled. In the Oceana study, the frequency of mislabeling was lower (7%) in summer during the peak of the wild salmon but reached 38 - 48% during winter when wild salmon are out of season. I have talked to Dr. Cline and she was unsure if the mislabelling was happening at the wholesale level or by the retailers/restaurants. This fraud doesn't seem to be a high priority for enforcement though the economic impact is substantial.
Steve
 
People actually buy fish from stores, who wouda thunk it.

Never have, never will, If I didn't catch it I'm not eating it!
 
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