I just finished watching a presentation on fresh Atlantic salmon on one of the television shopping networks and I could have been floored as they touted the great benefits of fresh Atlantic salmon. Because most canned salmon is wild caught Pacific or Alaskan salmon I would take this over any Atlantic salmon.

I remember reading in a New York Times article many years ago that when it comes to salmon most of us don’t know what we are buying. They stated that in a survey of 800 people (ages 35 – 54) done by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute that 90 percent of respondents did not know that Atlantic salmon is farmed-raised. And a third believed that Atlantic salmon is wild.

You see, if you are buying Atlantic salmon then chances are it is farm raised and the quality and nutritional benefits are not equal.

Most of your farmed salmon comes from Chile, Norway and Canada and they have all bought forth a number of environmental complaints.

Farm raised salmon has more fat than wild salmon however the makeup of this fat is not healthy as the fat of wild caught. While wild caught may taste a little gamier flavor I’m sure it’s a difference that you will come to appreciate.

If you look at the color of wild caught salmon versus farm raised you can see that wild caught has a deeper reddish-orange color while farmed salmon has a pale pinkish-orange look. Salmon gets its color from its diet, since farm raised salmon is fed a fish feed their flesh is somewhat gray. To alleviate this problem I believe that chemical coloring is added to the feed to produce its color this makes it more presentable for the market place.

Antibiotics are fed to farmed salmon to decrease and prevent disease, the residuals of these antibiotics can be passed on to humans who eat farmed salmon.

Wild caught salmon might be scarce between October and May however, canned salmon is available all year round and most canned salmon is wild caught. This is a great way of getting all of the nutritional benefits of fresh wild caught salmon and saving money at the same time.

If you are going to eat canned salmon make sure that you shop around for a brand that you like. Just like anything else all brands are not created equally.

Wild is better than farmed and canned salmon packs plenty of punch.