New Organic Salmon Proposal Fishy?
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November 29, 2007
Portland, OR – The National Organic Standards Board is meeting this week to determine if farmed salmon can be labeled organic. Critics say raising farmed salmon in underwater pens causes pollution problems and makes the fish susceptible to disease. Chef Vitaly Paley, owner of Paley's Place in Portland, says an organic label on farm-raised fish would be misleading to Oregon consumers.
"It's a migratory fish. It needs to travel from cold ocean salt water into the fresh water to spawn. If the fish doesn't have its cycle, it's no longer salmon."
Paley says he won't use anything but wild fish in his restaurant, with or without the organic label.
"Wild fish has an totally different flavor than the fish that's been raised in captivity. The primary reason is because when the fish is raised in captivity it has these constricted spaces where it's raised so it doesn't get a chance to swim and the fat content is out of proportion to what it should be."
Supporters of salmon farming say the fish is safe to eat, and that smaller farms raise fish with more care than the large producers.