With the push towards eating leaner forms of protein, fish and seafood has skyrocketed in sales. The increased desire for these products has created a mass production of fish and seafood in this country and abroad. However, fish is not regulated by the FDA and does not go through the extensive inspection process as does beef, poultry and pork. Due to the low production cost and the increased need, many farmers are producing farm raised catfish, salmon and other various types of fish. The problem with this type of production is that many fish, such as salmon, which are highly active fish and need a very large area to swim are being cooped up in small ponds. These type of fish thrive off of ocean water, such as the Atlantic sea, where they were once raised exclusively. Because the majority of salmon is now raised in these types of restrictive conditions that aren?t conducive to exercise, the flesh of the salmon is not as pink due to the extra fat surrounding the belly region.

To make the flesh of the salmon pink, the fish undergoes a chemical process that involves the addition of toxic color additives to mask the fat tissue and produce  the delicate pink color associated with Alaskan raised salmon. Be very careful when ordering farm raised salmon due to this reason. Unless the salmon is organically produced, meaning it has not undergone the chemical processing, it is not swimming around in its own excrement on a daily basis, and it is produced in a humane manner, than you are at risk of consuming a highly degraded form of protein that could potentially cause adverse health effects.