The next time you are in China, you might want to skip the raw fish dish that looks like salmon.

A controversy regarding food safety practices of fish that is not salmon passing off as salmon, has been brewing in China.

And it might grow.

1. What happened?

State broadcaster CCTV revealed in May 2018 after its investigations found that one-third of the salmon sold in China is actually freshwater rainbow trout farmed on the Tibetan plateau, in the Qinghai province.

To paraphrase: This means one-third of the salmon sold in China has been, in fact, domestic rainbow trout mislabelled to deceive consumers.

2. Why are the Chinese angry?

Chinese consumers, buoyed by new middle-class wealth and accessibility, and a taste for more wholesome foods, have been eating salmon in recent years, particularly at Japanese restaurants or cooking it at home, believing it to be nutritious and imported.

Hence, revelations that freshwater rainbow trout are farmed in a reservoir in the Qinghai province and passed off as salmon, have sparked off a firestorm of criticism in a country that has already had many encounters with food scandals on a national scale.

The Longyangxia Reservoir in Qinghai Province, China’s largest salmon production centre, is responsible for one-third of China’s salmon production, and was actually raising rainbow trout.

On social media, Chinese users said they felt misled into thinking the fish they bought originated from Europe, such as Norway and Denmark, or North America, and have vowed to stop buying any more of the fish.

This current food safety problem has also brought up the issue of product packaging, where consumers feel they need to be properly told what they are buying via the labels on the food stuff.

3. Why is freshwater fish frowned upon?

The fear of parasites in farmed freshwater fish is the main concern.

In 2015, the threat of parasitic infections led Singapore to ban the sale of freshwater fish dishes that are consumed raw:

4. What was the initial response by Chinese producers?

Following the May 2018 CCTV bombshell revelations, the China Fisheries Association put out a statement in a bid to allay fears about the safety and authenticity of salmon on the market.

The statement said several types of fish were considered to be salmon, including Atlantic salmon, Pacific salmon and also the rainbow trout being raised at fish farms in Qinghai province.

The association also said that parasites were not a product of seawater or freshwater, but rather, had to do with the cleanliness of the water and what the fish ate.

The Qinghai reservoir covers an area of 383km². It is located at an altitude of 2,600m and is home to the biggest salmon farm operations in China.

5. What is the latest development by the Chinese government?

In response to consumer fears, the Chinese government has expanded its official definition of what can be classified as salmon to include rainbow trout.

This new industry standard has caused more controversy.

Consumers continue to express concern that the freshwater trout may have parasites that do not occur in the seawater salmon.

The topic “rainbow trout is now salmon” went viral on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, with more than 35 million views.

In August 2018, the China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance (CAPPMA), along with 13 Chinese fishery companies, announced new industry standards via a proposal.

Instead of addressing the public's concerns and objections, the new standards broadened the definition of salmon, and now officially recognises rainbow trout as legitimate salmon in the Chinese market.

The announcement published in Chinese, is titled “Group standards of salmon for raw consumption”. It was made public on Aug. 6.

CAPPMA is a fishery organisation affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture.

It so happens that Longyangxia Reservoir is one of the 13 fishery companies involved in the creation of the proposal to make rainbow trout the new salmon.

The proposal has been accepted by government officials and is awaiting feedback from the public.

The public is viewing the move as one to legitimise the practice of mislabeling rainbow trout as salmon to trick buyers into paying the premium price of salmon for less expensive rainbow trout.

6. Used Wikipedia definition

Adding insult to injury, the document notes that “salmon” is a general name for a species in the family of Salmonidae, which includes rainbow trout.

In other words, the document cited Wikipedia for the loose definition of “salmon” as justification for the new industry standard.

In technical terms, the statement is already partially wrong.

According to Wikipedia, “salmon” is an umbrella term used to describe “several species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae”, and while trout falls into the category of Salmonidae and is closely related to salmon, it is clearly not salmon in a scientific or layperson sense.

In its defence, the Qinghai provincial government published a statement that said the problem lies with the "current lack of standards" that "has caused unnecessary disagreements and concerns about safety that have adversely affected the industry and market".

7. Government-backed association not backing down

In a public hearing held by Shanghai’s consumers’ association on Aug. 21, the fishery organisation opted to stand firm on its previous statement.

They insist that the rainbow trout is indeed salmon and is safe for raw consumption.

The three-hour-long meeting was attended by professors, lawyers, representatives from CAPPMA, citizens, and media, and debated the merits of the new standards -- a bewildering experience for many, as the new standards should not even be legitimised.

Experts objected to the redefinition of the freshwater rainbow trout as salmon, while CAPPMA claimed that “salmon” is not a scientific name, but “a versatile concept defined by its users”.

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8. What is the expert view?

Among experts who err on the side of caution, eating raw freshwater rainbow trout is dangerous. No questions about it.

According to one professor of aquatic ecology and toxicology at the University of Hong Kong, rainbow trout lived only in freshwater and could be contaminated with parasites such as flukes.

This is despite salmon and trout falling under the same scientific salmonid family.

“Rainbow trout cannot be eaten as sashimi because it needs to be fully cooked,” he said. “The parasite can live in the human liver and cause liver damage.”

It is purely a business decision to label rainbow trout as salmon, the professor said.

This is to allow fish sellers to have the lion’s share of the market by selling trout as a high-value salmon product.

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