frozen salmon fillets - wild-caught in Alaska, Product of China? page

[jaye]

I'm trying to upgrade from canned salmon to frozen. I fould a bag of frozen wild-caught fillets from Alaska at the local grocery store. The package says it is a product of China which is a red flag to me. I assume the fish gets sent there for processing but, with all of the shady food processing that gets caught in China, would you trust it?

[OneDeltaTenTango]

I would be suspicious. I live in Alaska and am pretty familiar with the seafood industry here. There is no Chinese presence in the processing sector that I am aware of and I doubt fish are being sent out to process in china. It is possible that they are catching AK salmon outside of the US 200 mile EEZ, which raises sustainability issues. Is it labelled MSC certified? (marine Stewarship Council). If not, then even more doubtful as to the provenance.

[Snauzoo]

I see this fish in grocery stores also. I live in California, and our salmon industry has been flat decimated by desert farmers in the central valley stealing all the water to be able to raise soy and cotton. Whenever I drive down I5 towards Fontana, which I do once or twice I year I see miles and miles of crops in what would be arid fields if not for irrigation. And meanwhile the steelhead are damn near extinct. But I will not eat non sustainable fish, and I will buy some AK salmon but try really hard to find fresh wild caught. Generally I cannot do this but this does no preclude our annual charter and fishing trip and then some marathon salmon smoking.

Personally I will not eat anything from China. I try to not buy anything from there at all, but that is hard. AND will not cook in cookware manufactured there either.

[OneDeltaTenTango]

I see this fish in grocery stores also. I live in California, and our salmon industry has been flat decimated by desert farmers in the central valley stealing all the water to be able to raise soy and cotton. Whenever I drive down I5 towards Fontana, which I do once or twice I year I see miles and miles of crops in what would be arid fields if not for irrigation. And meanwhile the steelhead are damn near extinct. But I will not eat non sustainable fish, and I will buy some AK salmon but try really hard to find fresh wild caught. Generally I cannot do this but this does no preclude our annual charter and fishing trip and then some marathon salmon smoking.

Personally I will not eat anything from China. I try to not buy anything from there at all, but that is hard. AND will not cook in cookware manufactured there either.

Don't necessarily shy away from frozen AK salmon as it can be a much better product than fresh. Of course it depends on how either one was handled, how quickly frozen, if fresh, how recently caught, how processed, and how long it sat in the fish mongers cooler, etc. There are a lot more variables involved in getting quality fresh fish to market than getting quality frozen fish to market.

[primal4fifty]

I agree: yuck! and kinda sketch... I would only eat frozen alaskan salmon handled by an alaskan operation.

[BestBetter]

I just had this same issue - I was all excited about finding Alaskan salmon, then saw on the package it was 'processed in China', and I ran away from it. China has been pumping out some seriously scary stuff, I don't trust it for a second.

[Fiji]

I would not touch any food items that are grown, caught in or processed in China. I think it really says something when Chinese people themselves will send they children to Canada and the US if they can afford to do so because they are scared to feed them the food there. Better to be safe than sorry- Chinese food items and the way they are handled by Chinese companies are seriously questionable. There is plenty of frozen alaskan salmon that is handled in alaska. Check out Trader Joe's or Whole Foods- I bought some at Whole Foods yesterday on sale.

[jaye]

Thanks so much everyone! I won't be buying it.
The MSC logo is on the package. That's one of the things that confused me.
Like some of you, I won't buy unsustainable seafood. That really limits my options. Especially since I am in the rural Midwest. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods are about 200 miles away. I'll just have to stock up on seafood next time I make the trip.

[IvyBlue]

I am always struck by the contrast in color between farmed and wild caught when both are in the case and no, I not only wouldn't trust it to be wild, I'd question whether it was salmon at all. I also can't see fish being sent just for processing, presumably whatever it is it was caught there or by a Chinese flagged ship.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/m...view/index.htm

[Girleegirl]

If you want good Alaska salmon, buy some from Alaska. I grew up in Anchorage and 10th and M Lockers is a good reputable one. I have no idea of the the cost or the freight, but maybe you can get a group together buy a large enough quantity of off set all that. Ask for Copper River Reds. The are the very best.