That "Wild" Salmon You've Been Paying for May Have Been Farmed

Along with tuna, salmon is one of America's most popular fish. It's delicious and healthy (it's a superfood), but it has one major downside—it's extremely expensive, costing up to $25 a pound for wild salmon, and about half that for the farmed variety.

While one Washington Post taste test actually gave the edge to farmed salmon, wild salmon is generally more prized because it's considered more natural, so people are willing to pay a hefty premium for it. But according to a new report from Oceana, 43% of "wild" salmon sold out of season (i.e. in winter) is actually mislabeled farmed salmon.

Using DNA testing on 82 samples from restaurants and grocery stores around the country, Oceana found that a huge amount of the fish marked as "Alaskan" or "Pacific" was actually farmed in the Atlantic. When the organization did a similar study two years ago during peak salmon season, only 7% was mislabeled.

So if you want wild salmon for your summer backyard barbecue, you can be pretty sure that's what you're getting. Otherwise, you might want to consider just buying farmed. You'll spend less, and it's not any more dangerous to eat.

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