The festive season of 2019 has just begun, and it is time to treat yourself to some great food! If you want an extravagant BBQ feast, Japan’s Wagyu beef will definitely tick the box. Having a fried-chicken party? South Korea’s specialty definitely tops the list. But if your New Year Resolution is to get healthy and you fancy a salmon buffet, Norway is the supplier you are looking for.
Many salmon-lovers are not aware that Norway is home to their favorite fish. Norway invented modern salmon farming, and has a unique expertise in salmon rearing honed through decades of practice. As the world’s number one salmon producer, it has a commitment to producing sustainable, healthy fish, using advanced technologies and a highly effective management system to ensure food safety and sustainable farming. The next time you are having a salmon buffet, try asking if your fish comes from Norway!
Some people swear off eating raw salmon because they believe that it contains parasites. Fear not, because Norwegian salmon do not have intestinal parasites, and over 90% of fresh salmon imported to Thailand comes from Norway. This belief makes things very sad for Norwegian farmers who spend up to 30 months nurturing each salmon from the roe! If fish could talk, here are the 8 things that the Norwegian salmon would want you to know are untrue about them.
- Salmon live crowded in small on-land facilities
Not in Norway. Norwegian salmon live a life of luxury, in vast fish pens in the middle of the ocean anchored to the seafloor, up to 40 meters deep, and 200 meters in circumference. Imagine a spacious penthouse with maximum security. In each pen, there are only 2.5% fish, while the rest is seawater. Underwater cameras monitor the salmon 24/7 for safety and comfort reasons!
2. Farmed salmon do not get sufficient nutrients
Farmed Norwegian salmon are very well looked after; they live on EU-standard feed. Do all your meals get an EU stamp? Unlikely. The feed is made of natural fishmeal, fish oil, and vegetable raw materials, providing all kinds of nutrients that fish need for a healthy life.
3. Salmon are soaked in red dye
How do you go about dyeing fish swimming in the ocean? The logistics already do not work. The reddish pigment in the salmon’s flesh comes from a naturally occurring antioxidant ‘astaxanthin’, which is found in crustaceans fed on by wild salmon. This is added to Norwegian salmon’s highly nutritious feed and is a vital part of its diet. The nice color is only an extra benefit!
4. Farmed salmon are parasite-ridden and overdose on antibiotics
Norwegian farmed salmon do not have intestinal parasites! The EU-standard feed they are fed is heat-treated, allowing absolutely no parasitic contamination. Dedicated experts in Norway have also developed specialized fish vaccines to keep the salmon safe from diseases and limit the use of antibiotics, keeping production sustainable. These vaccines have almost entirely eradicated the use of antibiotics in Norwegian farmed salmon. Any salmon in Norway treated with antibiotics (less than 1%) is treated to remove residues before they are introduced to the market.
5. Farmed salmon are full of toxins
Food safety is a key pillar in farmed salmon production, and the Norwegians take food safety very seriously. Norway strictly abides by EU regulations and is committed to monitoring for environmental toxins and other undesirables in its farmed salmon, randomizing samples based on the total production in a year. This effort has made Norwegian salmon one of the safest food items to consume, with any heavy-metal residue (e.g. mercury) and pesticide levels being well below the limit set for food safety, and lower than those of wild fish, largely due to the clean feed.
6. Salmon comes from Japan
Not commercially, but Japan is a part of this love story. Once upon a time, back in the 1980s, Norway was producing too many salmon for domestic consumption, and they decided to share those fresh, delightful salmon with the lover of raw-fish: Japan. It took Norway a few years of wooing, but eventually Japan fell for the salmon from the cold, clear waters of Norway. Thus, began a marriage of cultures that paved way for iconic Japanese dishes: salmon sashimi and sushi. Salmon became the most popular fish for sushi and sashimi around the world.
7. Wild salmon have more omega-3 fatty acids than farmed salmon
Farmed Norwegian salmon actually have higher healthy fat content, and therefore more omega-3 fatty acids. The salmon have delicious, fatty meat primarily because they are regularly fed a nutritious diet, but the fat is mostly unsaturated, not the kind that causes unhealthy weight gain!
8. Male salmon tastes better than female salmon
This is perhaps the most ridiculous myth. The facts are these: farmed Norwegian salmon do not reach sexual maturity before they are harvested and sent to the market, and all salmon are fed the same feed, meaning that there are no distinguishable differences in male and female salmon. The verdict? There is no difference in what you taste!
