“Organic” Fish
April 16, 2007
I keep putting “organic” in quotation marks because it is hard to know what it would take to consider a fish organically raised or nurtured. The basis of organic food production is control over growing conditions. But big fish eat smaller fish and migrate thousands of miles over rivers and oceans. If they end up full of methylmercury and PCBs, how can they possibly be considered organic? Fish farming also seems anything but organic. Farm-raised fish are treated with pesticides to prevent lice, and they eat pellets containing artificial colors, parts of fish and other animals, and binders and thickeners made from soybeans that could be genetically modified. How, you might want to know, could any farmed fish be labeled organic?
— From What to Eat
Hello, I was checking out Rancho La Puerta and read about you. Now I’ll be buying this book! Thank you…I actually think there should be a movie made, much like Michael Moore’s genre,
about the food industry. We are being duped to think we are purchasing anything we actually ‘believe’ we are purchasing.The comments you listed about farmed salmon really irked me. I thought I was eating something good and I’m eating something with dye and that’s been created from pellets? oh - my - gosh! I’m trying to buy organic or healthy stuff, but even ‘organic’ has to be looked into, per item. Thank you…we need more help like yours! Keep up the great writing and honest help you are delivering to us all. Can
America even save herself from obesity, fast food and poor health, due to diet? Take care, Donna
Comment by Donna — June 6, 2007 @ 2:31 am
Several people have made–or are making–movies about the kinds of food issues I talk about. The most obvious ones are Fast Food Nation and Our Daily Bread. And when it comes to our food system, I think there is plenty to be optimistic about. Organic and natural foods are the fastest growing segments of the food industry. People are voting with their forks for changes in the food system, and that’s exciting. Thanks for writing.
Comment by Marion — June 7, 2007 @ 10:34 pm
We so enjoy farm raised catfish . . . Is it yucky? Cheryl
Comment by Cheryl — June 29, 2007 @ 1:51 pm
Check out the Seafood Watch program sponsored by the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. www.seafoodwatch.org. This program has excellent educational materials on sustainable fishing, including very useful pocket guides on what seafood are best to buy based on whether they come from sustainable sources.
Comment by Julie — July 12, 2007 @ 5:14 pm