Salmon fraud in restaurants

In 2005, Chapman and I went to dinner with an inspector somewhere in B.C.

salmon_headI wanted salmon and asked if it was farmed or wild. The server insisted they only served wild salmon and that farmed salmon were a scourge.

Wrong answer, at least for me.

Sorta like the chefs in Australia who insist they only use raw eggs in their aioli and mayonnaise.

Wrong answer, at least for me.

Oceana, an advocacy organization that’s previously found fraud in retail marketing of other fish, shrimp and crab cakes, released findings Wednesday that diners were misled in restaurants when ordering salmon 67% of the time. The most common mislabeling was labeling farmed salmon as pricier, more sustainable wild salmon.

Wild salmon is not more sustainable, at least for me.

And these reports by advocacy groups would have more credibility if they were published in peer-reviewed journals instead of being designed to get the most media mileage.

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About Douglas Powell

A former professor of food safety and the publisher of barfblog.com, Powell is passionate about food, has five daughters, and is an OK goaltender in pickup hockey. Download Doug’s CV here. Dr. Douglas Powell editor, barfblog.com retired professor, food safety 3/289 Annerley Rd Annerley, Queensland 4103 dpowell29@gmail.com 61478222221 I am based in Brisbane, Australia, 15 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time