Ukkram

How can I tell if the salmon at my supermarket is farmed or wild? I don't want to eat farmed ones that are pumped full of antibiotics and artificial colouring.

I also see that the price at Continente has doubled over the past 4 months from €6 to €12. Is this due to it being winter?

Pulaski

I am not in Portugal, but farmed salmon in the US has very pale pink flesh, compared to wild-caught salmon which is very dark pink verging on red.

EMR

Farmed, look at the lable, it should say agricole. Or something like that.

Wild atlantic salmon is a real premium product, certainly not a supermarket fish.

zoff

I've had excellent grilled salmon in Portugal and to my surprise my mom buys fish from the supermarket these days

Maybe the weather, company and vinho had something to do with it

macliam

It's very unlikely you'll find wild salmon in Continente .... and if it was, you can be sure they'd tell you!

Colour is no real indicator - farmed, organic salmon can be very pale because they don't feed anything to give colour. Wild salmon will depend on where it comes from and the type of salmon - local wild salmon (almost anywhere) will be seasonal. It may also be drier as it has less fat content.

However, farmed salmon does NOT mean "pumped full of antibiotics and artificial colouring". Norwegian salmon is raised in netted sea-fjords and eat natural food. It all deppends.....

EMR

I have visited salmon farms in scotland, the biggest negative is the chemical they use to treat fish lice infestations which has had a serious almost catastrophic effect on other migratory fish such as sea trout.
Having said that I will still and eat farmed salmon smoked or otherwise.

Red Eric

Except in the frozen goods section

mfesharne

A significant percentage of the fish you see for sale (especially in supermarkets) here is farmed..... Especially (in my area at least) the sea bass & it's taste & texture is not a patch on that of a proper wild one.

Don't be fooled by colour either because the pellet manufacturers often put dye into the pellets to make the flesh look like a wild fish.

EMR

But it labelled as farmed unlike that sold in most restaurants.
But again there are differences in farmed fish,
Those from Portuguese fish farms compared to those trucked across Europe from Greece.

liveaboard

I'm happier eating farmed fish.
Wild fish has unknown mercury levels, not to mention bottom feeders from downstream areas of Fukoshima or Windscale.
Sea trawlers are taking fish at unsustainable levels, not Eco-friendly at all.
Fish farms are controlled and tested for disease as well as heavy metals.

EMR

I agree,better ethically and environmentally produced farm fish than no fish.
Problems such as overfishing of sand eels to provide fish meal resulting in negative affects on the local wild fish and birdlife population need to be overcome.
Feeding farmed fish with products from sea fish seems to be a contradiction in terms. Mercury etc still gets into the foodchain.

Ukkram

I would have thought the salmon was wild as it explains the doubling of the price in 4 months. Perhaps not in season in the north Atlantic in winter.

EMR

No wild salmon, Coninente had a special low price deal on. " super price " look out for them.
We bought a lot of low price large red prawns from Argentina last month.

not2old

is there a local Lidl near you that may have Salmon?

Campanula

I have had those prawns from Continente and never suffered any problems . If you google prawns or any fish like river cobbler from warm waters it would put you off eating them.
So it's everyone's choice what you do . Everyone's in to Sea bass fillets at the moment but where are they from and how good are they?