News Coverage
Study warns of PCB in farm-raised salmon
Published July 29, 2003
An environmental group behind the study advises limiting your salmon intake.
Health experts urge us to eat more fish to keep our hearts healthy and fend off conditions like Alzheimer's disease.
But a national environmental group says it has tested some farm-raised salmon - the third most popular fish in America - and found polychlorinated byphenols, or PCBs, which may cause cancer.
Scientists from the Environmental Working Group didn't do an exhaustive study. They simply went to grocery stores, bought 10 pieces of farm-raised salmon and sent them to a lab for tests.
Seven of the 10 samples had PCB levels that should give consumers pause, the group says. If the fish were wild, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would advise people not to eat them more than once a month.
"Because farmed salmon are bought, not caught, their consumption is not restricted in any way," the report says.
The group advises consumers not to eat farm-raised salmon more than once per month. The group also suggests broiling, baking, or grilling instead of frying to "allow the PCB-laden fat to cook off the fish."
Farmed salmon are fattened with ground fish meal and fish oils that can contain concentrated levels of PCBs, the group says in a report scheduled for release today. Since farmed salmon is fattier than wild salmon, the PCBs are more concentrated, the group says.
A fish-farming trade group said the study is "irresponsibly frightening consumers." Government officials said Tuesday that consumers shouldn't change their fish-eating habits.
The federal agency that oversees American food sales - the Food and Drug Administration - needs to do more testing of farm-raised salmon and tighten its standards, the Environmental Working Group says.
"I think what we found certainly suggests that the FDA ought to pick up on this," said Kristina Thayer, an EWG scientist.
The FDA has been testing salmon for PCBs for about eight years and has found low levels of the contaminant, two FDA scientists said Tuesday. The government tests were different than the EWG's tests, and the agency didn't separate farm-raised and wild-caught salmon. The FDA's safety standards also were set years ago, before farm-raised salmon became so popular.
The FDA now plans more extensive testing of both feed and farm-raised salmon filets.
FDA official Mike Bolger said the study "is a piece of information we will take into account," but said a sample of 10 fish isn't enough to draw conclusions.
"Our advice still is that consumers should continue to eat these fish and not alter their diet based on these results," said Dr. Terry Troxell, who oversees food safety at the FDA.
"We need to get a lot more data," said Bolger, director of the FDA's division of risk assessment.
A fish-farming industry trade group, the National Fisheries Institute, released a statement attacking the report.
"The methodology and assumptions in the report should be carefully evaluated by FDA, the primary food safety agency for commercial fish and seafood, to determine whether they are appropriate and scientifically sound," it said.
Said EWG spokesman Jon Corsiglia: "We didn't put the PCBs in the fish. We're just testing and telling people about it. Why does a small environmental nonprofit research group have to be on the vanguard of this testing?"
The group tested the fish because farm-raised salmon have become readily available across the country. The fish tested were bought at supermarkets in Washington, D.C.; Portland, Oregon; and San Francisco. They came from salmon farms in Scotland, Canada, Iceland and the United States.