Suit Targets Tinting of Salmon

YAKIMA, Wash. — A Seattle law firm is suing the country’s three largest grocery chains, contending they failed to disclose to shoppers the coloring additives that turn farm-raised salmon pink.

The three proposed class actions against the Kroger Co., Safeway and Albertsons were filed Wednesday in King County Superior Court, said Paul Kampmeier with Smith & Lowney.

“Pink sells salmon,” he said. “To artificially color salmon without giving that information to consumers, we believe, [is] unfair and deceptive, and it’s also against federal law.”

The flesh of farmed salmon is naturally grayish, and the salmon are given special feed to alter their hue to a more desirable shade.

Representatives for Kroger, Albertsons and Safeway all said they had not seen the lawsuits.

“Our goal is to always provide the highest quality and freshest products,” said Shane McEntarffer, a spokesman for Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons.

“We want to assure our customers that we buy our salmon from well-regarded, reputable suppliers who are known for their high quality standards and who guarantee that they comply with all federal, state and local laws,” said Cherie Myers, a spokeswoman for of Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway.

The pigments added to farmed fish food are synthetic versions of naturally occurring ones in the diet of wild fish -- “not unlike taking a Vitamin C tablet instead of eating an orange,” said the British Columbia Salmon Farmers Assn.

In British Columbia, which exports more than 85% of its farmed salmon for U.S. consumption, the pigments are added at levels below those allowed by both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Union, the group said.