Introduction: Recently, the German media (ARTE) exposed the vicious operation of norwegian salmon artificial breeding, exposing the reasons for the large number of global salmon deaths in recent years and the excessive content of preservatives in salmon products in German supermarkets. With the detection of the new coronavirus on the board of cutting salmon in Beijing's Xinfadi market, the safety of salmon has once again aroused people's concerns.
As the "king of fish", salmon is a regular visitor to the table in many countries. In Germany alone, the average person eats 13.7 kilograms of salmon per year, and in next door France, that number even reaches 34 kilograms. It is not enough to rely on wild salmon for the huge global demand, and a large part of it needs to be artificially farmed salmon to meet.
Recently, german media Artist visited the Norwegian salmon farming base and filmed the documentary "Die Gier nach Lachs" exposing the evils in the farming chain:
First of all, in the case of massentierhaltung, the density of salmon in underwater cages is too high, resulting in the flooding of fish lice, the fjord is acidified by a large amount of fish manure, and the underwater ecological environment deteriorates, gradually affecting the genes of wild salmon and threatening the survival of wild salmon.
Second, the manufacture of artificial feed disrupts the global climate. Fishmeal for salmon rearing is made from 30% soybeans and fish oil. In order to expand the area under soybean cultivation, more and more rainforests in the Amazon are being deforested, further exacerbating the deterioration of the global climate.
Under the deteriorating conditions of the underwater ecological environment, in 2018 alone, about 1 million salmon were deformed, and 50 million salmon died, with a mortality rate of up to 20%.
As the largest producer and exporter of salmon, Norway produces more than 2.6 million tonnes of salmon per year. In 2019, Norway exported a total of 2.7 million tonnes of seafood, worth a total of 10.6 billion euros. Germany is also one of the major importers of Norwegian salmon, with imports of frozen and fresh salmon reaching 37,000 tonnes in 2019. However, in the context of the increasing saturation of Norwegian salmon farming bases and the deterioration of the global salmon farming environment, the quality of salmon has also been questioned by more and more consumers in recent years.
Previously, Greenpeace had tested the Ethoxyquine content of salmon in a number of supermarkets in Germany, including Rewe, Aldi, Lidl, Netto and so on. This substance can be used as a pesticide or food preservative, its harm to human health has not been fully studied, there are individual scientific studies have shown that chemicals can destroy genetic material, affect the metabolism of the liver, there is a risk of carcinogenesis.
According to the standard of 50 mg per kilogram of meat products, a total of 45 of the 54 salmon products tested this time contained ethoxyquine, and 32 products contained ethoxyquine content exceeding the standard. Among them, the most serious content exceeded the standard is Real's product Stremellachs, which detected 881 micrograms of ethoxyquine per kilogram, which is 17 times the limited content, and Marktlauf's products Räucherlachs and Rewe's products Lachsfilet are also seriously exceeded, and their common denominator is that they originate from Norwegian aquaculture farms.
(Image source: wizelife.de)
China is also one of the main consumers of Norwegian salmon. According to the Global Times, China consumes about 100,000 tonnes of salmon a year, with salmon farms in Norway and Chile being the main source of supply. In 2019, China became the country with the largest growth in Norwegian seafood imports outside of Poland, with a total import volume of 513 million euros, and China became the seventh largest sales market for Norwegian seafood.
Recently, the new crown epidemic in Beijing broke out again, and the new crown virus was detected on the board of the imported salmon vendor in Xinfadi Market. Many supermarkets removed salmon in the shortest possible time, resulting in the closure of Beijing's largest seafood market, Jingshen Market. China and European countries also have different views on the fact that the new crown virus has been detected on the salmon case board.
At first, some Chinese scientists speculated that imported salmon meat was likely to have been contaminated and that Europe should bear some responsibility. The new outbreak is caused by a Strain of The European Coronavirus, which may have spread to meat through contact with an infected person and then survived through sealed and frozen packaging. （Das Virus könnte per Kontakt einer infizierten Person auf das Fleisch übertragen worden sein. Luftdicht verpackt und tiefgefroren könnte das Virus die lange Reise auf den Fischmarkt überlebt haben.) China has recently suspended imports of Norwegian salmon, and seafood markets across the country have suffered an unprecedented depression.
However, the Norwegian side rejected this view. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority refused to list salmon as the source of the outbreak in Beijing, saying: "Based on what is currently known about the coronavirus, we do not think it is likely to be transmitted through food or water." ”（Nach dem aktuellen Kenntnisstand zu Coronaviren wird eine Infektion über Nahrungsmittel oder Wasser als unwahrscheinlich angesehen。 In addition, German media outlet Nau also had reservations about the Chinese side's position, citing a recent paper published in bioRxiv that "coronaviruses are only transmitted in mammals." ”（Das Coronavirus kann nur Säugetiere befallen.）
However, the dispute was resolved on June 16. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said at a press conference that after testing the Xinfadi market, it was found that salmon, despite being contaminated, did not carry the new crown virus before entering the scene of the incident. There is currently no evidence that salmon are a host or intermediate host for the virus. The salmon is not guilty and gets a real hammer.
Summary: At present, whether the new crown virus can be transmitted through fish still needs to be studied, but experts remind you to avoid eating salmon raw as much as possible. For a time, people's panic about salmon was difficult to eliminate.