Wild Salmon Leaping Upstream (photo by Matthew G. Hull, courtesy of morguefile.com)

There have been some alarming reports regarding the safety of farm-raised salmon over the years. One sample of farmed salmon studied by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found levels of PCB's so high that it advised eating it no more than once every two months. PCBs have long been known to cause cancer.

Now Safeway, one of the largest supermarket chains in the U.S., has restricted the purchase of farmed salmon from Chile over concerns about a virus that is killing millions of fish there. According to an article in the New York Times,

Safeway made its decision to restrict some purchases of Chilean salmon after an article on March 27 in The New York Times reported the spread of the virus and detailed concerns by biologists and environmentalists about the elevated use of antibiotics in the country’s salmon industry. The article also reported researchers’ claims that salmon farms were contaminating fishing waters and creating stresses that could be spawning illnesses in the fish.

Past reports were enough to get us to stick to wild salmon and this new report makes us happy we did. Though it means we pay more for fresh salmon and there are times when no wild salmon is available, we feel it’s worth the sacrifice. And when there’s no wild and fresh salmon around we’re quite happy making due with our favorite smoked salmon caught wild in Alaska!

If you’d like to read the article in the New York Times cited above go to: Safeway Restricts Purchases of Chilean Salmon, Citing Fish Virus

To purchase Alaskan Wild Sockeye Salmon smoked over alder wood fires go to: Smoked Wild Sockeye Salmon