Dear Peter and George,
I would loook at the FDA's definition and lable claims for guidenace, in addition to the color additives of the FD&C act for guidance. Here are a few sites with information and discussion.:
http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/news/ng.asp?id=66212-sugar-association-natural-labeling
>From the natural Products res. center:
the FDA refers to natural ingredients as "ingredients extracted directly from plants or animal products as opposed to being produced synthetically."
U. S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA Consumer
This is a good discussion from F&D officials:
http://www.afdo.org/afdo/position/2007-Papers.cfm
Thus, I think that you can call it fed natural color additives (as in the list of ings) but not calll it natural. I was taught that natural meant "from nature", as nature brought it to us- very few foods are under this definition. Maybe for marketing purposes you could use no artificial colors added or ...
Juan L. Silva
Mississippi State U.
>>> Brendan McHugh <criticalcontrolpoints@yahoo.com> 11/11/2007 2:08 PM >>>
Adding to this is the question of vaccines or other treatments such as for sea lice. I would have difficulty calling these "natural"
P Howgate <phowgate@clara.co.uk> wrote:How natural is natural?
In response to Brendan canthaxanthin occurs in nature, and can be also be
synthesized. According to a review by the European Commission on the use of
canthaxanthin in animal feeds it does not occur in wild Atlantic salmon, but
is present as 'a minor carotenoid' in wild pacific salmon. The dominant
carotenoid in wild salmonids is astaxanthin which is derived from crustacea
in their diet. Canthaxanthin is similar in colour to astaxanthin, but not
identical - it is slightly yellower - and both pigments are incorporated
into feeds for salmon. The rest of the feed includes components, such as
vegetable oil and vegetable protein, that would not be present in the diet
of salmon in the wild. I would not consider the feed for farmed salmon is
natural for that species even when it is formulated from non-synthetic
compounds.
In my first message of 9 November I quoted a definition of 'natural' and my
argument was that by this definition any food produced by farming is not
natural. This is not to say that farmed food is unsafe or unwholesome
because it is not natural. Given the recorded intrinsic toxicity of some
plants and animals harvested from the wild, and the selection for safety and
wholesomeness that has gone into farmed products over the millennia since
agriculture was first developed, I think I will stick to products of
agriculture rather than forage for natural products.
This discussion is relevant to the general discussion current in many
countries about a move to consumption of more 'natural' foods, that is foods
with lower intensities of processing and less use of additives. What I think
we are discussing here is the label that goes on the product and in my
opinion any attempt to label a product of aquaculture, or agriculture, as
'natural' would be misleading. As I remarked in my previous message relating
to introduced species, boundaries in practice are not as hard as definitions
would wish - could a fish harvested from the wild but has been frozen and
thawed be considered 'natural'? Other people might have different
understandings of what the word 'natural' means, but I would like to know
what this understanding is. Yes, I agree with Richard Lord that development
of farming is a natural product of mankind, but I would not accept that a
product of mankind's endeavours is therefore natural.
Peter Howgate
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brendan McHugh"
To: "George Souza" ;
Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2007 8:21 PM
Subject: Re: All Natural Farmed Salmon
> The colour is canthaxanthin which I understand to be a "natural"
> colour.
> If the rest of the feesd is "natural" too then it shold all fall within
> the same definition.
> However some of the ingredients of the feed would have to be proved to be
> natural also eg the blood - horse, chicken or cow and the treatments
> received by the donor (?) animal. Feathers and grain also and any oher
> density adjusting aditives.
>
> Would one have to say " natural but frozen" ?
>
> George Souza wrote: Can frozen farmed salmon
> with color added through the feed be considered all natural?
>
> Best regards,
> George Souza
> Endeavor Seafood, Inc.
> 172 Thames St., Suite 300
> Newport, RI 02840
> 401-841-5412 phone
> 401-841-8639 fax
> www.endeavorseafood.com
>
>
>
>
>
> Brendan McHugh
>
> CCP International
Brendan McHugh
CCP International
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