Salmon: Affordable luxury on your plate

by Nickky Faustine De Guzman
December 31, 2013

We may live in an archipelago surrounded by bodies of water that yield varieties of fish but majority of the Filipino foodies still prefer meat as their comfort food. From time to time, cheap and readily available varieties of fish like bangus, tilapia, and galunggong are served on our everyday plates.

Salmon is one of the most versatile foods. You can eat it raw, put some olive oil, or make a sandwich. The possibilities are endless.

But, one kind of fish that is not accessible in our local seas but available in the market today is salmon. It is one of the most popular fishes in the world thanks to its tender meat and rich taste. Yet it remains unfamiliar to the majority of Filipinos for it is often branded as a luxurious fish that is only available in posh restaurants and hotels.

Because of this thinking, we may lose out on the nutrients we can get from salmon. Just like tuna, salmon is rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, which is good for people with heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. It is also good in preventing cancer, memory loss, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease. For pregnant women, Omega-3 helps in preventing premature birth and bearing children with hyperactivity.

Salmon for everybody
But things are definitely changing. Nowadays fresh salmon is relatively cheaper; at least one company is trying to lessen its retail selling price in the market by as much as 20-30 percent to fit in the budget of many.

“While salmon is not an everyday commodity, still many Filipinos think that it is very expensive. We want to change this thinking. We believe that salmon products need not be expensive, hence our mission is to make salmon as affordable as possible while maintaining the best quality taste-wise and health-wise,” Superfish and Domestic Market Business Unit Head Juan Paolo Araneta says.

This being said, the Philippine-based international processor and distributor Big Glory Bay Salmon & Seafood Company Inc. (BGB) wants to change this notion by the introduction of Superfish, its competitively-priced salmon brand. BGB is a fully-owned subsidiary of the Singapore-based Alliance Select Foods International (ASFI), which is a tuna export company publicly listed in the Philippines.

“Our salmon is especially high in Omega 3, having almost twice the levels of other salmon species. It only takes 150g of salmon per week to meet the weekly requirements of Omega 3. It also contains an essential trace element of Selenium, which plays a vital role in protecting against oxidative damage,” Araneta adds.

Each worker wears washed boots, coat, hair net, mask, and gloves to avoid contamination.

Clean and green plantation
Some media men were invited to personally witness the art of producing world class salmon. The facility is strategically located in the heart of the Tuna Capital of the Philippines: General Santos City. While BGB also produces tuna, our main goal was to learn more about their salmon production.

We were asked to wear hair net, mask, coat, and boots, which we personally wash from time to time. The entire area smells fresh and looks spic-and-span. We also had to sanitize our hands more often. The plant uses state-of-the-art equipment however, we were asked not to take photos of the machine. The seafood plantation holds the reputation of being the country’s most modern seafood processing plant that adheres to the highest international standards thus, promising the best quality seafood products.

The salmon are carefully deboned, salted, or smoked by skillfully practiced artisans. The seafood products are sold locally and overseas where there is a high and strict standard of food quality and sanitation like in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Thailand, and New Zealand. Given the strict standard, the company has gained international recognition for its freshness, taste, and optimal health benefits. The salmon are sustainably sourced from the waters of New Zealand.

All the products are mercury-free, MSG-free, and zero trans fat. Currently, Superfish is available in 46 stores in Metro Manila including Rustan’s Supermarket, Robinson’s Supermarket, Shopwise, and Unimart among others, and in Cebu, Davao, Pampanga, Palawan, and Cagayan de Oro.