Don't get fooled - We DNA tested our salmon, here's what we found out:

by Matt Aboussie November 09, 2016 51 Comments

We are genuine fishermen. We know where our salmon comes from, because we catch them in the cold, clean waters of Bristol Bay, Alaska.  Despite this knowledge and connection to the source, customers still ask us the same question over and over, "how can I know that what I'm buying is really wild caught salmon?" 

There's an unfortunate amount of deception in the seafood industry with mislabeling, renaming, and bait-and-switch tactics that deceive customers to spend more money on a lesser quality fish. The truth is, that for many kinds of seafood (especially a white fish, like Halibut) once it's on the plate, it is very tough to discern the real thing from an imposter.

Wild Alaskan Salmon doesn't have as much of this issue, because the firm texture and rich flavor of the fish can't be easily mimicked. Nonetheless, it happens, and we're here to make a stand. We wanted to see how hard it would be to verify that your seafood is what it says it is, and demonstrate that what you're getting from us is the real deal, on the up-and-up, a square deal, you get the drift.

Through some searching and calling around, we found Applied Food Technologies (AFT) Laboratory in Alachua, Florida that specializes in seafood DNA analysis and identification.  The technician there was very helpful, and got us started with the process quickly.  She sent us a sample submission form, and we overnighted a sample to their lab in Florida.

Here's more details on the process from AFT's website;

"We follow FDA's validated method for DNA barcoding for the species identification of fish. Our seafood species DNA identification method is unique in the commercial marketplace in that its foundation is based solely on taxonomically validated reference material. To our knowledge, it is the only such system in the U.S. We have been working with the seafood industry and regulators for more than a decade to ensure the diagnostics we develop and utilize in our testing services are comprised of the ‘best available science’ for seafood species identification."

The report came back some days later with definitive and encouraging results. The salmon had been found to have a greater than 99% match to wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon. 

 

While this was no surprise to us, we wanted to demonstrate our commitment to bringing you the real thing; premium, wild-caught Alaskan Salmon.

Read the full analysis report below, and find our more about AFT, and how their services are helping to combat the mislabeling of seafood on their website appliedfoodtechnologies.com.

Full DNA Analysis Report:

 

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