Do you ever wonder about the color of salmon?
Why some salmon may be really dark orange, and some may be lighter and perhaps more of a pink hue? That’s due to a pigment called astaxanthin which is a carotenoid (the vitamin A family).
Salmon need this pigment – it is like an essential vitamin for them — and it is necessary for the health of the fish in various ways.
Wild caught salmon can get this pigment when they eat microalgae and some smaller fish (krill). Farmed salmon would need to be fed foods that contain astaxanthin to make sure they get it in their diet. For farmed fish it may still come from microalgae or krill that is fed to them, or it may be a form of the pigment that is manufactured and added to their feed which is usually in a pellet form.
This is why you don’t see gray salmon – whether it is wild caught or farmed — this would indicate an unhealthy fish!
For more on this see: The colour of farmed salmon comes from adding an antioxidant to their feed, with benefits for everyone – Dal News – Dalhousie University.
Leah McGrath, RDN, LDN
Ingles Markets Corporate Dietitian
facebook.com/LeahMcgrathDietitian
800-334-4936