Here's Why Rainbow Trout Will Now Be Called "Salmon" In China
If it looks like salmon and tastes like salmon, then it's rainbow trout.
By Alyssa J. Oon — 17 Aug 2018, 05:52 PM
The next time you have "salmon" sashimi in China, you might actually be eating rainbow trout
A new set of standards released by the government-affiliated industry group China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance allows rainbow trout to be marketed as salmon in markets and restaurants.
The rules also state that the label must include the species of the fish and its origin.
Authorities have justified the change with an explanation that both fish belong to the same "salmonidae" family.
The move comes three months after a state media outlet let it spill that China's "salmon" were raised in a large fishery located in Qinghai Province
In the video news piece, the narrator explains that China's "Tibetan plateau has long raised (freshwater) salmon" and had "captured one-third of the market", according to FMT News.
Netizens raised a stink over the piece, questioning the "salmon's" ability to "migrate thousands of kilometres over dozens of dams from China’s northwest to the ocean".
The Paper, a local news website, eventually sent a reporter to the fishery and confirmed that the "freshwater salmon" were indeed rainbow trout.
The expose led to a consumer confidence crisis for domestic fish farmers.
However, citizens are not ready to let issue this pass as water under a bridge
Consumers fear that rainbow trout are more susceptible to freshwater parasites due to its breeding in tanks and ponds. Salmon are hatched in freshwater but will travel to saltwater after.
A statement by the China Fisheries Association, that has since been taken down, claims that the presence of parasites "does not depend on whether it is bred in seawater or freshwater" but rather "its growth can be safely monitored", according to The New York Times.
BBC News reported that netizens took to Weibo with the hashtag '#RainbowTroutBecomesSalmon' to express their dissatisfaction over the new ruling, asking if crayfish should now be labelled as lobster or if students could mark their own test scores since "industry standards are determined by the manufacturers".