reLAKSation 251. Callander McDowell
Slimming with salmon: The Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation recommends that Scottish salmon is the ideal slimming super food. They don’t know how right they are! Any member of the public contemplating losing weight will find that salmon is now a significant aid to weight loss. The SSPO press release says that every 100grams of salmon contains only 220 calories and 13 grams of fat. This means that a typical 150g portion will provide 330 calories and 19.5 grams of fat. However, the recent price rise means that slimmers have had their calorific and fat intake slashed by about a third for the same money. As slimmers now get much less salmon for their money, this must be a sure-fire way of losing weight quicker.
The SSPO say that there is no magic cure for weight loss. Surely they are wrong. Higher prices mean that slimmers get less salmon for their money and accordingly they get to eat less too.
After the F plan diet, the Atkins diet and even the Mars bar diet, we can’t wait to read about the “high priced salmon diet”? Perhaps, if prices continue to rise, we will see the “price salmon out of the market diet”!!!
Salmon scam: According to IntraFish, tests by one of the largest US watchdogs has found that only 10 out of 23 supposedly ‘wild’ salmon fillets were definitely caught in the wild. The rest came from salmon farms.
In the US, supermarkets must label salmon with the country of origin and whether it is wild or farmed. Retail fishmongers are apparently not obliged to disclose this data, but if they do, it must be accurate. Clearly, Consumer Reports findings suggest most are not. They ask whether consumers should care citing cost and health as two reasons why consumers should feel that they are being ripped off.
We, at Callander McDowell, do not condone inaccurate labelling. We believe that farmed salmon are more than able to stand up to scrutiny, despite attempts by Consumer Reports to suggest that wild salmon is a healthier option. They recommend that instead of being ripped off by unscrupulous retailers, consumers should only buy wild salmon in the summer opting for canned during the winter. They also suggest avoiding salmon farmed in Europe and opting to eat omega -3 substitutes.
Rather than suggest these alternatives, perhaps, they would be better served by campaigning for mandatory and accurate labelling throughout all the retail sector. This would ensure consumers buy exactly what they pay for.
What we found most interesting is the fact that these findings were uncovered as a part of selective consumer research, rather than specific complaints by consumers. Could it be that most US consumers couldn’t tell the difference between farmed or wild and Atlantic or Pacific salmon? Does this say much more about the quality of farmed salmon today than the continued attempts to undermine consumer confidence in the farmed product.
In Europe, distinguishing between wild Pacific salmon and farmed Atlantics is much easier. This may be in part due to the much longer supply route needed to bring fish from Alaska to the European market but most of the Pacific fish sold fresh in Europe just doesn’t look as appetising as the much fresher local farmed fish. By comparison, the situation in the US may be more blurred as the supply chains are reversed, although this does not seem to have made it any easier for consumers or consumer reports to tell the difference. For example, Consumer Reports had to send samples to the laboratory to identify whether the pigments were synthetic or not. Seemingly, they were unable to tell the difference without scientific confirmation.
Consumer Reports argue that the consumer deserves to get what they pay for. Perhaps, this is exactly what they are getting?
Eat or else!: Some years ago, one of Callander McDowell’s consultants was on a visit to the Far East to visit various fish farms and whilst there was very keen to try some of the locally farmed species including milkfish. His hosts were not particularly helpful. They could not understand why he would want to eat what they considered to be peasant food. However, that was exactly the point, milkfish are farmed as a subsistence food. They can provide cheap and nutritious protein but may not figure on a list of the most tasty fish to eat.
Despite protests from his hosts, our consultant persisted and was promised that milkfish would be forthcoming at dinner. During the meal, dish after dish was served but our consultant was conscious of the fact that the fish would probably be sold whole and he would have to make an effort to eat a hearty portion in order not to offend. Eventually, a dish of what looked liked fried noodles arrived at the table and the hosts said to try it. It tasted a little of liver. When asked what it was, he was told milkfish. The fact was that his hosts just could not bring themselves to serve the fish at dinner, instead, they arranged a dish of what they considered the most tasty bit - the intestine.
The simple fact is that tastes around the world differ significantly. What one set of people might eat, another might abhor. For this reason, we were interested to read in IntraFish that Morten Hoyum, Managing Director of Genomar has said that he believes that tilapia will oust other species such as salmon and cod from the top of the list of fish consumed. He said that one of main reasons is that tilapia can be fed on ‘leftovers’ from agriculture and is not dependent on manufactured feed containing wild fish as is the case with salmon and other farmed species. Mr Hoyum is saying nothing new. Extensive production of warmwater species has been the mainstay of fish farming for thousands of years and still is responsible for the bulk of farmed fish produced in the world today. The foremost species has been carp which has been spread throughout the world simply because it can be farmed and is a good source of fish protein. Although Chinese records of carp farming go back 4000 years, carp did not spread from its natural habitat around the Aural Sea and the River Danube until the rise of Christianity. Fish consumption increased because it was forbidden to eat warm blooded flesh on over 100 days in the year. River fish were caught and put into holding ponds where they were taken as required. Eventually, someone noticed that the carp bred and the young could be grown on. This new technology spread north through Europe with monks and landowners. Carp eventually reached Britain by about 1450 and became the foundation of fish farming. Extensive pond culture fell into decline with the onset of industrialised fishing and improved transportation but also because many marine species were actually preferred by the population. Extensive pond culture still continues in parts of Europe, especially land locked countries where it is traditional to eat carp at Christmas or New Year.
Carp also continues to be widely eaten in the Far East, where it is an essential part of subsistence farming. By comparison, tilapia was only considered as a farmed species during the 1930’s when attempts were made to improve the output from these subsistence ponds however, it is only in recent years that it has become internationally recognised, especially through increased supply into the US market. The significance of the US market is that many of the southern states also produce fish by extensive pond culture. Channel catfish were grown as a cheap protein to feed the workers in the cotton fields. This part of the US has developed a taste for warmwater pond fish and thus it is only a short step to substitute tilapia into this market as tilapia make much better eating.
We, at Callander McDowell, doubt whether there will be such a willingness to accept warmwater fish flesh in Europe. Tilapia is available in the European market, even in Britain, but its presence on the supermarket fish counters is still minimal. Much of the fish is sold to ethnic communities rather than the mainstream population. The fish are sold whole, which does not appeal to the traditional market which prefers skinless, boneless fillets. A couple of supermarkets have introduced fillets to their stores but the price is much higher than cod or salmon and therefore there is little incentive to try these different species.
Mr Hoyum is totally correct to suggest that tilapia are more environmentally and ecologically friendly to produce. This does not mean that consumers actually want to eat them. Carp already dominate the fish farming industry, but even where there has been a history of eating carp in Europe it is not as popular as cod or salmon.
The fish farming industry has suffered many problems in recent years because it focuses on the production of what they think consumers should be eating rather than producing what consumers actually want. Many Far Eastern countries produce fish in the way that Mr Hoyum suggests but even there, with their long history of eating fish produced in this way, there is no guarantee that all species are popular with the local consumer.