HOW TO SELECT WHAT SALMON TO BUY

It is no secret that Salmon is probably one of my favorite foods. It may seem hard to believe, but as a child fish was the last thing that would have landed on my plate. Now, I could honestly eat Salmon daily. Of course, not all Salmon is created equal. I have found that there is an enormous difference in fresh Salmon verses what you may find in the frozen section of your local grocery store. Unfortunately, eating fresh Salmon daily may empty your bank account pretty quickly. So, I tend to shop around for the deals. Out of curiosity I started doing some research to find which variety was the best one to choose. This is what I found.

Imported Atlantic Salmon
Other names: Farmed salmon

Most Atlantic salmon come from farms in Chile, Norway, and Canada, and they have elicited a litany of environmental complaints.

Chilean farms, in particular, pollute the waters where fish are raised with antibiotics and waste. On the other hand, farms in Maine and Eastern Canada are government regulated to keep their impact low, says Barry Costa-Pierce, PhD, professor of fisheries and aquaculture at the University of Rhode Island, in Narragansett. 

Supermarkets in the U.S. are required by law to label the country of origin of many foods, including seafood.

U.S. Atlantic salmon
Other names: U.S. farmed salmon

Farmed Atlantic Salmon is a great option. Nutritionally, they are just as good as wild. "I lump wild and farmed salmon together," says Charles Santerre, PhD, a professor of food toxicology at Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Ind. Farmed Atlantic salmon often contains at least as many omega-3s as wild salmon, because they're raised on a diet of other omega-3-rich fish.

Alaskan or Wild Caught Salmon
Other names: Chum, keta, king, pink, red, sockeye, sake

Wild salmon are caught off the coast of Alaska or the Pacific Northwest. If you have the choice between those two areas, opt for Alaskan salmon because the populations are not as depleted, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Either way, Costa-Pierce says U.S. salmon fisheries are kept in close check so they don’t take too many fish from the ocean.


By going wild, you’ll get a firmer, less fatty fish. While it is still just as healthy as farmed, Santerre says the wild variety is a slightly gamier-tasting fish.

You may not know if your store has coho because, like other species of wild salmon, it’s just labeled wild.

Coho Salmon
Other names: Silver salmon

Coho are smaller and eat less than other salmon, resulting in fewer polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which may cause cancer. (Mercury is not a concern in either wild or farmed salmon.)


Many experts say the risk posed by PCBs is outweighed by salmon’s omega-3 benefits. But David Carpenter, MD, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at University at Albany, in New York, says people should have only one meal a month of most salmon. But with coho, he says, you can have an "almost unlimited consumption."

Canned salmon
Brand names: Bumble Bee, Wildcatch, Chicken of the Sea

What happens if you can’t find environmentally friendly farmed salmon where you shop? And wild salmon costs about twice as much, plus it isn’t always available between October and May. Then what?

Canned salmon is a good way to get wild salmon cheaper and year-round (most brands use wild Alaskan salmon), along with all the same nutritional benefits of salmon, Santerre says.


But you might have to taste-test a few brands to find the flavor and texture you like best.