That Salmon On The Menu Might Be A Fraud — Especially In Winter

That Salmon On The Menu Might Be A Fraud — Especially In Winter Enlarge this image toggle caption iStockphoto iStockphoto Would you be able to tell if the wild Alaskan sockeye salmon you ordered for dinner was swapped out for a less expensive piece of farm-raised salmon? To select samples for the newest study, Oceana searched online menus for restaurants touting "wild salmon" and sought out salmon labeled "wild" in grocery stores. Oceana says this kind of fraud is a real economic problem: Salmon-loving consumers aren't always getting what they're paying for, and responsible American salmon fishermen, forced to compete with fraudulent products, are "receiving less cash than they should be for their hard-won catch," according to the report. Enlarge this image toggle caption Joe Mable/Wikimedia Joe Mable/Wikimedia "If someone is trying to purchase something rated as a 'best choice,' like a wild Alaskan salmon, and is getting in its place something from a foreign country that has problems with sea lice or antibiotic use — if farmed — or was caught illegally, it could have serious ecological consequences," says Warner. That's how something like illegally caught Russian salmon can enter into our supply chain," she says — and be mislabeled as "Pacific salmon" or "wild salmon."