Farmed salmon tasted better than wild salmon
As long as people do not know what they are eating, they clearly prefer farmed fish. It shows a new Danish study.
But when the participants in the Danish study found out which of the fish they ate was wild salmon, they replied that it was the one that tasted best.
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have allowed 92 Danes to taste different salmon.
The Danes are picking more and more salmon with theirs – and most of this is farmed fish they get from Norway.
Many Danes are also afraid of antibiotics and chemicals in salmon.
Antibiotics and salmon
The fact that farmed salmon contains a lot of antibiotics is something many Danes now “know” – even though it is gradually becoming many years since Norwegian salmon contained significant antibiotics.
In 2018, 98.6 percent of Norwegian farmed salmon never received antibiotics, writes Professor Ørjan Olsvik in this forskning.no article.
Danish Food Safety Authority also confirms that the salmon Danish sheep from Norway contain very little antibiotic. It also does not contain other unwanted chemicals of importance, according to the regulator.
Answered differently
The 92 Danes first participated in a blind test where they were served both smoked farmed salmon and wild-caught smoked salmon. The second time they were asked to judge the taste, they knew which fish was which.
During the first test – the blind test – the participants had no doubt that the farmed fish tasted best. This applied to both ordinary farmed fish and organic farmed fish.
But when the same people were informed about what they were eating, they answered the other way around. Then they thought that wild salmon was clearly the best in taste compared to ordinary farmed fish.
Expectations for taste
– The experiment shows us that people’s expectations of (the taste of) a product are based on information they have received, says Mausam Budhathoki in an article on the University of Copenhagen’s websites. He conducted this study as part of his doctorate at the university.
Budhathoki that the participants in the blind test may have preferred the farmed salmon because it has a taste and color they know better than the wild salmon.
Another explanation may be that wild salmon is leaner than farmed salmon. Less fat gives the fish meat less flavor.
Know little about fish farming
As part of the same study, Danish food researchers have interviewed a selection of Danes about salmon in particular.
It turned out that these people had little knowledge about fishing and fish farming.
– It seems that Danes are quite confused when it comes to different types of salmon. There is a good reason for this, says Helene Christine Reinbach in the article at the University of Copenhagen. She is also a researcher at the Department of Food Science at the university.
Reinbach points out that the production chain from a Norwegian fish farm to the Danish consumer is both long and difficult to understand.
It will be the many factors that can influence people’s perceptions of the fish.
What is organic fish?
Many Danes ask if there are residues of antibiotics or other drugs in the fish they are offered in the store.
If you hear from someone you know that this is the case, then it is easy to conclude that it must be so, the Danish food researchers point out.
Other Danes ask if the salmon they are offered in the store may come from overfishing in the sea.
Reinbach and his colleagues at the Food Research Institute at the University of Copenhagen point out that among Danish consumers there can probably be a large market for more organic salmon.
For the time being, some sweet salmon is offered in Danish shops.
Norwegian researchers have also participated in a European study which concluded that most people have no idea what is meant by «organic fish». You can read more about her student at the online newspaper ilaks.no.
Sources and references:
“We prefer farmed salmon – as long as we do not know what we are eating”, article on the website of the University of Copenhagen, 3 December 2021.
Mausam Budhathokia et al: “The role of production method information on sensory perception of smoked salmon – A mixed method study from Denmark”, Food Quality and Preference, December 2021. Summary.