A pigment carried through the food chain
The pink color comes mainly from astaxanthin, a reddish-orange pigment in a group called carotenoids. Salmon cannot make it themselves. In the wild, they take it in by eating smaller animals—especially shrimp-like crustaceans—that have accumulated the pigment from algae and other food.
Farmed salmon get their color the same basic way: through what they eat. Their feed is formulated with astaxanthin, often made synthetically for use in animal feed. The fish digest it and deposit some of the pigment in their muscle, gradually giving the flesh its familiar hue. It is not painted onto the fillet after harvest.
Color is part of the product decision
A fish’s color can vary with diet and other conditions, so farmers can adjust the amount of pigment in feed to produce a more consistent shade. That consistency matters in a market where shoppers commonly associate salmon with pink or orange flesh. A pale fillet might be perfectly edible, but it can look unfamiliar or less appealing beside the expected color.
Adding pigment also has a cost, which becomes part of the cost of raising the fish. Producers are paying not to change salmon into something pink, but to supply through feed a compound that wild salmon obtain through their food chain. The shade on the fillet is therefore a visible trace of a hidden production choice: what went into the fish’s diet.
