# The SBHonline Community Daily > Restaurants Wine & Food Off The Island >  >  60 Minutes on farmed salmon

## MIke R

great piece...still a LOT of issues to be worked out.....

Bon Appetit

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## andynap

Saw it. Good report.

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## kent1994

I saw it too. 600,000 fish living in very close quarters? Seems to me it's only a matter of time until something, maybe a virus, unhealthy happens.

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## MIke R

absolutely.....

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## kent1994

And couldn't this something be very, very serious?

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## MIke R

yes it can once it crosses over into the wild ecosystem and infiltrates that..


it was a pretty eye opening moment when they dropped that camera to the bottom of the ocean floor under the farm pens to show a dead zone of fish waste muck covering the bottom

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## kent1994

Yes it was. The Canadians don't seem to get this.

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## MIke R

the farmer dude was so full of s**t.....in damage control mode during the whole interview....

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## MIke R

and yet....in spite  of it all...people keep ordering it in restaurants and markets knowing full well it isnt wild.....the consumer is just as guilty...if no one buys it..then restaurants and markets stop ordering it..... and then the farms must produce a better product or they go out of business...same with Asian shrimp..and tilapia

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## KevinS

I haven't ordered Salmon in a restaurant in years, but I'll keep an eye out for Wild-caught Alaskan Salmon.  The only shrimp that I eat is Wild-caught Gulf Shrimp (Gulf of Mexico, not Tonkin Gulf), and I have no interest in either Tilapia or Catfish.

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## MIke R

> I haven't ordered Salmon in a restaurant in years, but I'll keep an eye out for Wild-caught Alaskan Salmon.  The only shrimp that I eat is Wild-caught Gulf Shrimp (Gulf of Mexico, not Tonkin Gulf), and I have no interest in either Tilapia or Catfish.



 :thumb up:  :thumb up:

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## kent1994

> and yet....in spite  of it all...people keep ordering it in restaurants and markets knowing full well it isnt wild.....the consumer is just as guilty...if no one buys it..then restaurants and markets stop ordering it..... and then the farms must produce a better product or they go out of business...same with Asian shrimp..and tilapia



If the "farmers" could not give the salomon pellets to make the meat "orange" that would slow consumption.

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## MIke R

LOL....ya think?

thats just disgusting...

I spoke to a fishmonger friend this past weekend who told me the s**t they are putting in the shrimp pens in Asia now  to keep the shrimp alive is getting worse and worse....even dry cleaning fluid!!!!....anything to kill the nasty stuff in the water and  keep them alive long enough to be harvested....and this is 75% of the worlds shrimp

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## kent1994

Don't buy shrimp from Costco.

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## KevinS

I've bought shrimp labeled as Wild-Caught Gulf Shrimp, Caught in Mexico, Packed in the US, from Costco.  Is there something that I missed?

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## kent1994

Kevin I would defer to Mike for specifics, but this story from CBS News has kept me away. This story refers to shrimp from Asia.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/4-things...buy-at-costco/

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## rivertrash

> I haven't ordered Salmon in a restaurant in years, but I'll keep an eye out for Wild-caught Alaskan Salmon.  The only shrimp that I eat is Wild-caught Gulf Shrimp (Gulf of Mexico, not Tonkin Gulf), and I have no interest in either Tilapia or Catfish.



I missed the story.  We usually have three or four salmon-like products available where we buy fish:  Scottish Salmon, Atlantic Salmon , Copper River and Steelhead.  Are any of them OK?  What about Wildcaught Alaskan Salmon?

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## MIke R

Dick....they HAVE to say wild caught if they are....thats the sure way of knowing.....

the vast majority of Atlantic Salmon are farmed

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## JEK

When in doubt, check this site out for guidance.

http://www.seafoodwatch.org/cr/cr_se...endations.aspx

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## MIke R

> I've bought shrimp labeled as Wild-Caught Gulf Shrimp, Caught in Mexico, Packed in the US, from Costco.  Is there something that I missed?



I would think that is fine....the CBS article clearly addresses imported shrimp from Asia and Latin America......

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## KevinS

Seafoodwatch's Gulf Shrimp issue is with overfishing in Mexico, and with bycatch, both in Mexico and the Gulf.

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## rivertrash

Mike R -- At the Edwards, Colorado farmers market during the summer there is a guy who sells Alaskan seafood.  Basically, it's just several kinds of salmon and some huge King Crab legs.  Everything there is very frozen.  We love it.  What are your thoughts?

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## MIke R

> Mike R -- At the Edwards, Colorado farmers market during the summer there is a guy who sells Alaskan seafood.  Basically, it's just several kinds of salmon and some huge King Crab legs.  Everything there is very frozen.  We love it.  What are your thoughts?




I knew the guy and its who I bought my salmon from for all the years I lived there......he runs a salmon boat in Alaska but lives in Breckenridge and his kids all went to the high school in Breck when I was Dean of Students there.......has to be the same guy you re buying from.......great kids...good guy too....he had a thriving business with the high school and sold to  many of us...brought it back with him when he came home for a few weeks

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## MIke R

> Seafoodwatch's Gulf Shrimp issue is with overfishing in Mexico, and with bycatch, both in Mexico and the Gulf.



the shrimpers have to have turtle excluders in their gear now or they are in violation

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## cassidain

*Bloomberg News*


*Asian Seafood Raised on Pig Feces Approved for U.S. Consumers*

By Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen and William Bi October 11, 2012
 
Shrimp farmers in Ca Mau province in Vietnam, use ice made from tap water that the government says isn't safe to drink without boiling it, Sept 10, 2012. Photographer: Viet Dung Tran/ Bloomberg Markets via Bloomberg.

At Ngoc Sinh Seafoods Trading & Processing Export Enterprise, a seafood exporter on Vietnams southern coast, workers stand on a dirty floor sorting shrimp one hot September day. Theres trash on the floor, and flies crawl over baskets of processed shrimp stacked in an unchilled room in Ca Mau.
Elsewhere in Ca Mau, Nguyen Van Hoang packs shrimp headed for the U.S. in dirty plastic tubs. He covers them in ice made with tap water that the Vietnamese Health Ministry says should be boiled before drinking because of the risk of contamination with bacteria. Vietnam ships 100 million pounds of shrimp a year to the U.S. Thats almost 8 percent of the shrimp Americans eat.
Using ice made from tap water in Vietnam is dangerous because it can spread bacteria to the shrimp, microbiologist Mansour Samadpour says, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its November issue.
*VIDEO: Toxic Food, Can the FDA Keep U.S. Consumers Safe*
Those conditions -- ice made from dirty water, animals near the farms, pigs -- are unacceptable, says Samadpour, whose company, IEH Laboratories & Consulting Group, specializes in testing water for shellfish farming.
Ngoc Sinh has been certified as safe by Geneva-based food auditor SGS SA, says Nguyen Trung Thanh, the companys general director.
*VIDEO: Marsden on Food Safety Testing, FDA Standards*
*No Record*

We are trying to meet international standards, Thanh says.
SGS spokeswoman Jennifer Buckley says her company has no record of auditing Ngoc Sinh.
At Chen Qiangs tilapia farm in Yangjiang city in Chinas Guangdong province, which borders Hong Kong, Chen feeds fish partly with feces from hundreds of pigs and geese. That practice is dangerous for American consumers, says Michael Doyle, director of the University of Georgias Center for Food Safety.
The manure the Chinese use to feed fish is frequently contaminated with microbes like salmonella, says Doyle, who has studied foodborne diseases in China.
On a sweltering, overcast day in August, the smell of excrement is overpowering. After seeing dead fish on the surface, Chen, 45, wades barefoot into his murky pond to open a pipe that adds fresh water from a nearby canal. Exporters buy his fish to sell to U.S. companies.
Yang Shuiquan, chairman of a government-sponsored tilapia aquaculture association in Lianjiang, 200 kilometers from Yangjiang, says he discourages using feces as food because it contaminates water and makes fish more susceptible to diseases. He says a growing number of Guangdong farmers adopt that practice anyway because of fierce competition.
Many farmers have switched to feces and have stopped using commercial feed, he says.
*Frequently Contaminated*

About 27 percent of the seafood Americans eat comes from China -- and the shipments that the FDA checks are frequently contaminated, the FDA has found. The agency inspects only about 2.7 percent of imported food. Of that, FDA inspectors have rejected 1,380 loads of seafood from Vietnam since 2007 for filth and salmonella, including 81 from Ngoc Sinh, agency records show. The FDA has rejected 820 Chinese seafood shipments since 2007, including 187 that contained tilapia.
To contact the reporters for this story: Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen in Hanoi at uyen1@bloomberg.net
William Bi in Beijing at wbi@bloomberg.net

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## MIke R

I'm shocked!!!!!!

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## amyb

On this trip to California I have enjoyed wild caught Alaskan salmon, Alaskan black cod and abalone--all fantastic. I will miss the amazing food served in wine country.

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## MIke R

thats all well and good but just keep in mind *all* the shrimp in St Barts, that gets written up in superlatives, is right from the above source and other sources ( Thailand, China, Phillipines etc ) just as bad.......unless otherwise noted on the menu, which I have yet to see

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## amyb

And the freshwater shrimp from Guadeloupe is very tasty.

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## MIke R

yes that would be a notable exception.....

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## cassidain

> yes that would be a notable exception.....



Yes, and those should always be indicated as ouassous on the menu.

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## kent1994

Thank you Mike. Very interersting...

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## KevinS

Serval restaurants list Gulf Shrimp on their menus.  When asked, some say Gulf of Mexico.  Others aren't sure, and I have yet to determine if they are referring to the Gulf of Mexico or the Gulf of Tonkin.

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## cassidain

> Serval restaurants list Gulf Shrimp on their menus.  When asked, some say Gulf of Mexico.  Others aren't sure, and I have yet to determine if they are referring to the Gulf of Mexico or the Gulf of Tonkin.



Kevin, do you believe that ALL​ shrimp served in St-Barth restos were farm-raised in Far East sewerage ditches? I think I'll ask around and see what they say.

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## KevinS

Nope.  I believe that some are raised in the Gulf of Mexico, most are from Southeast Asia, and for some the waitstaff just don't know about the origin.

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## cassidain

I think rather some wild-caught in Gulf of Mexico. Some ditch-raised, pig-**** fed from the Far East and some ouassous from Guadeloupe.

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## MIke R

> Nope.  I believe that some are raised in the Gulf of Mexico, *most are from Southeast Asia*, and for some the waitstaff just don't know about the origin.




I would agree with that......most are....very few aren't.....

there should be a list of those places who are doing the right thing by their alleged discriminating foodie customers .. :cool: 

my money is on it would be a short list...

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## fins85258

Right about now is a great time to visit your local COSTCO and stock up on WILD CAUGHT COPPER RIVER SALMON for Alaska

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## andynap

Costco not the only one. Copper River everywhere

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## katva

Halibut too

image.jpg

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## andynap

Salmon is a pretty good price. I'm seeing Halibut most of the year.

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## katva

It's not easy to find fresh seafood of any kind out where we live, let alone wild caught.....I usually have to drive 30 miles or so.  Costco is only 7 miles from us:)

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## MIke R

those are great prices for  those two items....

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