How does salmon get its colour?. Wild salmon is naturally pink due to their diet which includes astaxanthin, a reddish-orange compound found in krill and shrimp. Farm-raised salmon, however, eat whatever farmers throw into their pen.
Farm-raised salmon would naturally be white, rather than reddish-pink, but farmers add a coloring chemical to their feed. But while many consumers and consumer groups, including Choice, are shouting for more transparency in the industry around the labelling of synthetically coloured salmon, the question remains: is coloured salmon actually bad for us to eat? And should we be encouraging the industry to abandon the practice in place of a chemical. What Is Color Added Salmon: Unraveling the Facts When it comes to understanding "What Is Color Added Salmon," it's essential to dive into the reasons behind the addition of color to farm-raised salmon.
This process is not about artificially coloring the fish, but rather about replicating the natural diet of salmon to achieve the expected pink hue, which is a key part of their appeal and. That added salmon color in your farmed fish? It isn't necessarily bad - but it isn't good either. Here's what to know.
Like their wild cousins, farmed salmon come in a spectrum of pinks and oranges, depending on diet. But it's the farmers-and not the food chain-that determine the salmon's color. Wild salmon take in astaxanthin from eating algae, krill, and other small crustaceans; while farmed salmon have this vitamin mixed in with their food.
Asataxathin is a dietary supplement in salmon feed to obtain the desired pink to red-orange color in the fish's flesh. Wild salmon is naturally pink due to their diet which includes astaxanthin, a reddish-orange compound found in krill and shrimp. Farm-raised salmon, however, eat whatever farmers throw into their pen.
Are farmed salmon injected with dye? The short answer is no. Farmed salmon are not injected with dye but are fed a diet that includes astaxanthin, a natural pigment found in algae and crustaceans. Commercial salmon producers supplement the diet of farmed salmon with carotenoids, the trademarked Carophyll or other products containing astaxanthin, a food additive that will cause the flesh of farmed fish to be a deeper (and more marketable) pink, but astaxanthin is also an essential nutrient for the fish that acts as a provitamin for vitamin A.