Salmon Is Tested for Wild versus Farm-Raised by Analyzing Pigment

Did you know that the FDA has developed a test to determine how a fish’s flesh is pigmented – either artificially or naturally? Recently the New York Times published an article regarding testing of the salmon found in local New York supermarkets. The article stated: “The Times sent random samples of salmon bought on March 9 to Craft Technologies for testing and comparison of levels of natural and artificial pigments, a method that scientists at the Food and Drug Administration have used to identify wild and farmed salmon. The Craft scientists analyzed pigments known as carotenoids.”

Only one of the supermarkets was actually selling fish that tested as ‘wild caught fish’ or naturally pigmented fish. The test analyzed the salmon for chemical structure of the carotenoid astaxanthin in the tissue of the salmon.

Since NatuRose® Natural Astaxanthin is the only pigment on the market that has the exact same chemical structure as the natural astaxanthin in the flesh of salmon, fish produced with NatuRose® in their diets instead of other sources of astaxanthin are chemically indistinguishable from wild caught fish.