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5 Reasons to Eat Wild Salmon

Updated on July 2, 2015
Chris Telden profile image

Living with food allergies—both her own and her family's—has driven Chris Telden's lifelong interest in diet, health, and cooking.

Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon - Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon - Public Domain Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Wild Alaskan salmon are fish low in mercury and high in omega-3 fatty acids, great to eat year-round. Depending on the time of year and where you live, wild salmon fillets, ready-made meals, jerky, and other products from Alaska and the waters of the Pacific Northwest are not always available to buy locally. Here are some reasons to seek it out.

5 Reasons to Make Wild Alaskan Salmon Part of Your Diet

  1. Alaskan salmon are healthy. I'm talking here about the true meaning of "healthy," a word often misused to mean healthful. Wild Alaskan salmon themselves are not ailing. According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, a whopping 98% of the salmon stocks in Alaska are healthy.
  2. Salmon bought online is fresh. Wild Alaskan Salmon for sale online is often flash-frozen on the fishing vessel within a short time after harvesting, meaning it can be fresher than some "fresh" salmon at fish markets.
  3. Health benefits. The health benefits of wild Alaskan salmon are well established - wild salmon has very high levels of omega 3 fatty acids and are considered brain food and heart-healthy food. According to the State of Alaska public health guide to fish consumption, wild Alaskan salmon is low in mercury levels.
  4. Eating salmon while pregnant is safe. According to State of Alaska guidelines on eating fish, wild salmon from Alaska is so low in mercury it's safe for pregnant women, women who are breastfeeding, and kids. The guide states, because of the low mercury levels, "Everyone can eat as much wild Alaska salmon as they would like." Also see their fish consumption calculator, which tells you how much fish is safe to consume if you're pregnant, including, besides wild salmon, certain species of halibut, cod, tuna and more.
  5. Convenient, year-round shopping. Shopping for frozen wild salmon or canned wild salmon online can allow you to buy wild salmon online during the off-season, which is the winter months.

Is the Wild Salmon in Fish Markets Really Wild?

In April of 2005, an article in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/10/dining/10salmon.html) revealed that a good number of local fish markets in New York were passing off farmed salmon as wild salmon.

To be safe, buy flash-frozen wild salmon from Alaska online, and if you buy fresh wild salmon locally, only buy during the wild salmon season from April to October, as "wild" salmon sold from the months of November to March are probably farmed salmon sold as wild salmon.

If you see sockeye salmon for sale, you can probably trust that it's wild, since people have not been able to successfully farm sockeye salmon for commercial purposes. The only Pacific salmon that have been farmed are coho salmon and king salmon.

Buy Bulk Wild Salmon

25 Pounds Fresh Sockeye Salmon Fillets
25 Pounds Fresh Sockeye Salmon Fillets
I buy portion-sized flash-frozen sockeye salmon from Vital Choice, because flash-frozen means it was frozen on the ship shortly after the catch. Flash frozen sockeye is now also available on Amazon, vacuum-sealed in 8-oz portions for cooking convenience.
 

How Much is One Serving of Wild Salmon?

One serving size is typically 4 to 6 ounces of wild salmon (weighed uncooked) for adults or 3 ounces for kids.

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