Facts About PCB's and Salmon
Recent news stories about PCB’s in salmon have caught everyone’s eye – especially here at Tony’s where we go to great lengths to provide you with the finest foods possible. We’ve been doing our homework and have found a tangled mess - with scary warnings about a favorite food as well as accusations of special interest, irresponsible speculation and questionable motivation. We offer you our best attempt at an objective understanding based upon current facts relevant to salmon lovers.

What Are PCB’s and How Did They Get Into Our Food?
PCB's are a class of chemicals known as polychlorinated biphenyls. Manufactured since 1929 they’re used in products from hydraulic fluid to carbonless copy paper, and have long been the fluid of choice for transformers and capacitors. While their manufacture was banned in the US in 1976, equipment containing PCB's are still in use worldwide.

PCB contamination exists due to historic uses and dumping throughout the world. Disposal into waterways has caused PCB contamination of rivers, oceans, soils and even the polar ice cap. As a result, many forms of wildlife and food sources now contain trace amounts of PCB’s.

PCB’s are resistant to degradation and therefore persist for many years in the environment. Furthermore, they bioaccumulate in the foodchain and are stored in the body fat of animals and humans.

Facts About PCB Risks
Potential PCB contamination is not limited to farmed salmon, a host of other foods and our drinking water are also susceptible.

Most of the information about the effect of PCB’s on humans comes from cases of very high dose contaminations. More study is needed, and underway, to understand what risks, if any, are presented by PCB’s in low doses.

The FDA tolerance level for PCB’s is 2000 parts per billion (ppb). Samples tested from salmon two years ago were 27 ppb worldwide and 19 ppb in the US. Which means salmon sold in the United States is typically at 1/100th of the FDA’s tolerance level for PCB’s. Changes and improvements in feeding over the last 10 years continue to lower levels.

The study tested salmon raw, with the skin on. The FDA noted that removing the skin and grilling would eliminate a significant amount of potential pollutants, if any are present.

EPA guidelines suggest an increase in lifetime cancer risk of people consuming recommended salmon levels of two, 2-ounce portions weekly to be on the order of one in one hundred thousand, or a one thousandth of one percent increase.

What is Being Done?
Salmon farmers are extremely environmentally conscious and abhorred by the fact that PCB’s exist in food chain at any level. Solving this issue has been their top priority for several years now.

The samples in this study were obtained about two years ago and in that time PCB levels in farmed salmon have decreased significantly because of continuing industry efforts. This is omitted from the published Hites report.

PCBs can be introduced to farmed fish from fishmeal and oil. Meal and oil for fish feed are formulated from the least contaminated sources possible. Additionally, the industry has reduced fishmeal and oil use by over 60 percent in the past decade with the substitution of vegetable sources.

Benefits VS Risks
Salmon is an unparalleled source of Omega-3 fatty acids, well-documented for it’s health benefits in the prevention of Coronary Heart Disease, reductions in the incidence of Alzheimer’s and depression, and enhancements in the health of young children. Read more about the health benefits of salmon.

It is important for consumers to know that contaminant levels vary based on where the salmon is raised, and that the U.S. market is supplied by numerous production locations. In the United States, over 90 percent of the farmed salmon consumed is raised in North and South America where the PCB contaminants are a fraction of the worldwide level.

The comprehensive report by the National Academy of Sciences published in June 2003 on this subject recommends that the consumption of fish not be restricted to achieve reduction in PCBs in the total diet because of the increasing evidence of health benefits compared to the unproven risks.

EPA guidelines indicates an increase in lifetime cancer risk with the recommended salmon consumption levels on the order of one in one hundred thousand, or one thousandth of a percent increase, as compared to a decrease in the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) on the order of 30 percent.

Many feel that the Hite’s report’s use of levels based solely on increased risk is misleading and potentially dangerous to the health and welfare of Americans.

Learn more about the health benefits of Salmon.

What Kind of Salmon is Sold at Tony’s?
All year long we proudly stock Sterling Salmon raised in the unpolluted waters of British Columbia – widely considered the industry’s leader in quality.

In season, we purchase fresh wild salmon direct from a single private fisherman working Copper River delta in Alaska. Each spring he catches the incomparable King (aka Chinook or Spring) salmon and sends us up to 100% of the fish he catches (making us one of the few sources for Copper River King Salmon in the state.)

Once the King salmon season has run it’s course, we purchase fresh Copper River Sockeye Salmon direct from the same fisherman, who also freezes a good supply of fish, just hours out of the water, to assure we have a good supply well into the winter months.