Food - Drink
You Can Determine If Salmon Was Wild-Caught By Looking At Its Tail
By JENNIFER SWEENIE
Fishmongers want consumers to know when they are offering wild-caught salmon, and will most likely add a label and a price point to advertise it as such.
Unfortunately, mislabeling and fish fraud means you might buy salmon that's not wild-caught at all. To ensure you don't buy farmed salmon, just look at its tail.
If you can see the whole fish, look for salmon with a larger, fan-shaped tail that is fit for navigating open waters. It's wide, flat, perfect for swimming, like flippers.
Farmed fish often have smaller and tattered tails from spending their time in overcrowded tanks with other salmon. The fish may even bite at each other's appendages.
If you cannot see the tail, the leaner flesh of a wild salmon has a deep, rich orangish-red hue. Farmed will be paler and more pink, with thicker, white fat marbling.