Mistaking Fresh for Wild: Lessons from a Classroom Blind Tasting of Wild and Farmed Salmon

Abstract

Four market-available (in December) fish were presented to students in a master’s course: fresh farmed Atlantic salmon, fresh farmed steelhead trout, frozen wild sockeye salmon, and wild king salmon. Tasters were asked to identify their favorite fish; which they thought was most expensive; whether they thought each was fresh; and whether they thought each was wild. When the king salmon was frozen, 79% of tasters preferred the farmed fish, largely because it is fresh. Many tasters erroneously attributed the bright, clean flavors and flaky texture they like to being wild: 39% of tasters thought the fresh steelhead was wild, though it is farmed. Still, the strongly flavored and lean sockeye was preferred by about a quarter of the tasters, despite being frozen. This mismatch between consumers’ preferred taste attributes and the production attributes on which they base choices implies an opportunity for aquaculture products to continue to expand their market.