I’ve heard farmed salmon is naturally a grey color and that it is dyed pink or red – is this true?
Yes. Wild salmon get their pink to red flesh from the diet they consume including crustaceans such as shrimp or krill. Since farmed salmon eat a diet of pellets, the colorants canthaxanthin or astaxanthin are added to the feed to create that appealing ‘salmon’ color. Retailers in the United States are required by the Food and Drug Administration to label salmon containing colorants. There are no similar regulations in Canada.
