Too much salt, too many toxic products, too many carcinogens… The magazine 60 million consumers takes stock of the smoked trout and salmon that will garnish our tables at Christmas. The experts scrutinized 15 smoked salmon references and 15 smoked trout references to track down salt, heavy metals and hydrocarbons.

To read also: Holiday meals: watch out for our plates!

Only “traces of mercury”

The first observation concerns heavy metals, “a recurring problem in this type of oily fish“. And the results are rather good. Of the three heavy metals sought, namely cadmium, lead and mercury, only traces of mercury at fairly low levels were found.
“So much so that this mercury is no longer detectable in a 40 g slice – the average portion -, even with the most contaminated salmon in our sample.“specifies 60 million.

Good news also for the levels of antiparasitics used in fish farms: out of the 30 samples tested, none contained any.

Up to nine different hydrocarbons

The second part of the test looks at polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), substances released during the smoking process that are classified as carcinogens or possible carcinogens.
On average, the products tested have six different PAHs. The worst performer was the Salmon Casino Delights, with nine PAHs.

Also to be avoided: Casino Délices red label smoked salmon and Odyssée smoked salmon which contain two problematic PAHs, the levels of which exceed the limit values. Carrefour organic trout also contains it, but below the threshold values.

Beware of salt content

Last point to check: the salt content. “On average, one slice is enough to cover a quarter of the daily limit of 5 g recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) “warns the magazine, which points to four particularly salty references. These are organic salmon La vie claire, the Nautica brand, Delpeyrat and Carrefour bio trouts.
Products to be consumed sparingly, therefore, and to be reserved for festive dinners.