News Coverage
Salmon: To Eat or Not To Eat
Published August 2, 2003
Summary: A study finds alarming levels of toxic PCBs in farmed salmon, and consumers get mixed messages on safety
An environmental group's discovery of alarming levels of toxic chemicals known as PCBs in three salmon from Portland grocery stores leaves consumers once again wondering whether their food is safe to eat.
The Canadian aquafarms that raised these salmon should act quickly to reduce PCBs or polychlorinated biphenyls, in their fish crops. And the U.S. Food and Drug Administration needs to study the PCBs in farmed salmon and clearly fix the level at which they pose a health hazard as food.
Right now it\'s hard for laymen to know what to conclude from the findings of the Environmental Working Group, a small Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit focusing on the environment and human health. The group analyzed 10 farm-raised salmon from grocery stores in Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Portland and found an average PCB level of 27.3 parts per billion. That\'s significantly higher than PCB levels found by other studies in other animals, the group says, higher than that of beef, five times that of wild salmon and 40 times that of milk.
PCBs, banned in the United States in 1976, can cause cancer and restrict fetal brain development. They persist in the environment -- and in the bodies of fish and humans -- and can be detected throughout the food chain.
The PCB levels found in the farmed salmon easily meet the safety guidelines of the FDA, set at 2,000 parts per billion, and of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. But they exceed the far stricter Environmental Protection Agency standards adopted in 1999, which say fish eaten twice a week should contain no more than 4 to 6 parts per billion of PCBs. By EPA standards, no one should eat farmed salmon more than once a month.
Charles Santerre, a professor of food and nutrition at Purdue University, argues that the health benefits of salmon, both farmed and wild, far outweigh the dangers from PCBs. Salmon is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which help prevent heart disease and possibly Alzheimer\'s disease, and is lower in mercury than some other fish. Salmon is healthier than other protein sources, says Santerre, but the environmental group\'s study suggests just the opposite.
Consumers need clarity on the safety of farmed salmon, which now accounts for 80 percent of the salmon sold in the United States. The FDA and EPA need to align their standards on PCB levels and issue precise guidelines that consumers can understand.
And the fish farms can find ways to reduce PCB levels in their salmon. They can start with cleaner fish meal, which now comes from smaller fish that carry PCBs. Wild Oats, a Colorado-based natural supermarket chain with stores in Oregon, will soon start selling farmed salmon from the west coast of Ireland. These salmon, the company says, are as low in PCBs as wild salmon because of cleaner fishmeal.
Consumers can cut away salmon fat, where most PCBs are stored, and cook away more by baking, grilling or broiling rather than frying. But until authorities agree on what PCB levels are safe, consumers may view farmed salmon with confusion -- and caution.