News Coverage
High PCB Levels Found in Farmed Salmon, Environmental Group Charges
Published July 30, 2003
The Environmental Working Group released a report this week claiming that farmed salmon contain higher levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) than other protein sources.
In a bid to pressure FDA to tighten its safety limits for PCBs and come in line with stricter standards set by EPA, the Washington, D.C.-based environmental group said that seven of ten samples of farmed salmon purchased in grocery stores contained dangerously high levels of PCBs.
The group said that seven of the salmon it tested came from "factory-scale" farms in Washington State, Maine, Canada and Iceland. EWG also reported that:* Of those seven samples, six tested at levels that would make the salmon unsafe to eat more than once per month, based on EPA's safety limits.
* Nine of the ten samples of farmed salmon from five countries of origin failed EPA's limits for weekly consumption - or 6,000 parts per trillion - exceeding the standard by an average of 4.5 times.
EWG also said that farmed salmon has 16 times the PCB concentration of wild salmon, due to the farmed variety's feed staple: fish meal and fish oil derived from small open sea fish.
However, the National Fisheries Institute - a trade group representing both the farmed and wild salmon industries - accused EWG of "irresponsibly frightening consumers" and questioned the EWG study's small sample size.