Grocers sued over artificial color in farmed salmon
By LARRY LANGE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
April 24, 2003
When Lori Thomas of Seattle discovered the salmon that she bought at Albertsons
had been raised on feed that artificially kept its flesh pink, she was incensed.
"There's no way I would have spent my money buying salmon that was colored
with a chemical additive to give it the red or orange or pink color,"
said Thomas, who was still upset yesterday with not being told how the salmon
had been raised. "If I had been told about the fake color I would have
never bought this stuff."
Thomas, a fund-raiser for a non-profit organization, is one of eight consumers
who've taken three giant supermarket chains to court for not telling them
and others how some of their salmon is raised.
Their case was filed yesterday in King County Superior Court and charges Albertsons,
Safeway and the Kroger Co. with deception, unfair business practices, breach
of warranty and negligent misrepresentation in the sale of farm-raised salmon
that were fed artificial chemicals as nutrients but not labeled this way.
Kroger owns two supermarket chains, QFC and Fred Meyer.
The case isn't expected to go to trial for 18 months, but it is believed to
be unprecedented. The suit, if successful, could result in millions of dollars
in damages being paid in a battle over two versions of Northwest salmon --
a regional icon and a popular seafood nationwide.
"When you fail to label (products) the consumer doesn't have an opportunity
to consider the controversy over the safety of these chemicals," said
Knoll Lowney, the Seattle attorney representing the consumers. "It's
unfair, it's deceptive and it's against the law."
Representatives for Kroger, Albertsons and Safeway all said they had not seen
the lawsuits and could not comment on the specifics.
"Our goal is to always provide the highest quality and freshest products,"
said Shane McEntarffer, a spokesman for Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons.
"We want to assure our customers that we buy our salmon from well-regarded,
reputable suppliers who are known for their high quality standards and who
guarantee that they comply with all federal, state and local laws," said
Cherie Myers, a spokeswoman in the Seattle office of Pleasanton, Calif.-based
Safeway. "The seafood product we sell in our stores is safe and wholesome."
And Cincinnati-based Kroger spokesman Gary Rhodes said, "We believe that
the farm-raised salmon sold in our stores is nutritious and wholesome and
fully complies with all federal labeling guidelines."
One industry official said the two chemicals that turn salmon's flesh pink
-- canthaxanthin and astaxanthin -- are found in nature, as well, and aren't
harmful in farm-raised fish.
"These are the same molecules that make wild salmon pink," said
Kevin Bright, general manager of farms for Cypress Island Inc., one of the
biggest farmed-salmon producers on the West Coast.
Fish farmers, the suit notes, artificially color their products by including
the two chemicals in the food that the fish eat. The practice is done, the
suit says, to produce more readily marketable fish flesh, because many consumers
won't buy the fish if they don't have that traditional color.
Farmed fish, the suit says, would have gray flesh were it not for the artificial
additives, because they don't get to eat other creatures like shrimp and krill
containing the chemicals that give salmon their pinkish hue.
The suit says both federal and state law require that flesh from farm-raised
salmon be labeled as such. "Generally, consumers prefer and are willing
to pay a higher price for wild salmon as compared to farm-raised salmon,"
said the complaint filed in court yesterday.
The suit also says there has been controversy over the effects of one of the
chemicals, canthaxanthin, because it has been associated with retinal damage
in the human eye.
Lowney said the European Union has limited the amounts of the chemical that
can be fed to farmed salmon, but added that there is "significant controversy"
about its effects.
Lowney said the legal issue wouldn't have arisen had the three retailers revealed
the feed's chemical content in their labels.
The lawsuit does not target any fish farms or brokers of farmed salmon. Bright,
of Cypress Island, said his company reveals the presence of the two chemicals
when it ships fish to its distributor.
The two substances are added not only to salmon to create the pinkish color
but also to hen eggs to turn the yolks bright yellow. Canthaxanthin also is
used in tanning pills.
Both chemicals are from the same group of natural substances as beta-carotene.
Both are antioxidants that give a reddish color to several animals, including
lobsters and flamingos. In addition to enhancing salmon color, the chemicals
help farm-raised salmon reproduce.
"There are all sorts of color enhancers in the foods we eat. It just
makes it more appealing to the consumer," Bright said.
Is the practice deceptive? No, Bright said, because it's the same pigment
that occurs naturally and "we label our boxes (of fish) with the color
additive and (the markets) as FDA requirements are also supposed to label
the fish that way." He estimates that farm-produced fish make up 69 percent
of those sold worldwide, important at a time when many fisheries are closed.
Bright says he suspects much of the anti-farmed salmon effort comes from the
wild fish advocates, perhaps from the commercial fishing industry, though
Lowney says none of those interests are involved in the lawsuit.
Some varieties of wild salmon have gray or even white flesh, depending on
what they eat, Bright said. Interviews with grocery workers and consumers
confirmed that many buyers prefer the pink-colored fish, whether they realize
the source of the color or not.
A worker at a QFC seafood counter, who didn't want his name used, said the
store probably wouldn't sell a lot of salmon that wasn't pink or was colorless.
He said it would probably make wild salmon prices go up if salmon wasn't colored.
"Right now prices are comparable and people don't notice a difference,"
he said.
A customer, Bonnie Graham, said she would "probably not" buy fish
if it were gray instead of pink. "Salmon is supposed to be pink. I don't
think gray would be very appetizing," she said. She said she doesn't
know whether the color additive is that bad if it's what makes regular salmon
pink.
At a nearby Safeway store, customer Tanesha Love wondered aloud whether the
gray tinges she's seen in some salmon was actually the natural color. She
said she usually cuts it away. She thinks fish should be red, pink or white,
and the gray would make it look spoiled. Said Love: "I wouldn't eat gray
fish."
P-I reporter Candace Heckman and The Associated Press contributed to this
report. P-I reporter Larry Lange can be reached at 206-448-8313 or larrylange@seattlepi.com
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