July 6, 2022
We heard you and we brought the receipts! Revo Salmon is not only healthy but it is in fact safer for consumption than conventional salmon!
Revo plant-based salmon vs. conventional salmon; what has less heavy metals and dioxins and is safer for consumption? We had our revolutionary product tested in a certified European food lab. The lab tested Revo Foods’ vegan salmon for mercury, dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls and more compounds. It also compared the findings with the ones of conventional salmon, based on the average of three popular smoked salmon products that are available in Austrian supermarkets (both from aquaculture and wild-caught). The results: Revo Salmon is officially healthier than regular salmon, making it safe for pregnancy as well!
One of the main reasons people eliminate seafood from their diets is safety. Although once deemed the healthiest food to consume regularly, fish is now on many doctors’ “black list” for its dangerous concentration of heavy metals and toxins. And that is how vegan fish, often called “vish”, entered the market. Along with environmental concerns, health-conscious consumers looked for alternative products with the same health benefits as fish, but without the… negative side effects.
Our first alternative seafood product, Revo Salmon, is 100% plant-based and provides lots of proteins, vitamins, and Omega-3 fatty acids. Based on pea proteins, algae extracts, and plant oils, it is delicious, nutritious, and inclusive for vegans and flexitarians. Now, we also wanted to show our customers that our health claims are backed by scientific evidence. Therefore, we decided to have our product tested in a certified laboratory in Europe.
Mercury is a toxic heavy metal found naturally in the environment. At the same time, it is also released into the environment through industrial production, such as when burning coal to produce power. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mercury is one of the top ten chemicals or groups of chemicals of major public health concern. That is because it has toxic effects on the nervous, digestive, and immune systems. The same goes for lungs, kidneys, skin, and eyes. That is the reason why doctors now advise pregnant women to eliminate seafood from their diet to avoid exposing the baby to toxic substances.
Tolerable weekly intakes of methylmercury (which is found in seafood) are about 1.3 μg/kg of body weight. That means that an adult human who weighs 70 kg can consume 91 μg of methylmercury per week, without having any negative side effects. According to the lab findings, conventional salmon contains at least 3,7 times more mercury than Revo Salmon. The average mercury concentration of the three conventional smoked salmon products is 37 μg/kg. The concentration of Revo Salmon is less than 10 μg/kg, below the detection limit. That means that an average person can consume multiple kilograms of plant-based salmon, without worrying about heavy metals.
Dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs are toxic chemicals that persist in the environment for years and accumulate at low levels in the food chain. They are mostly stored and accumulated in fatty tissues of animal products, such as seafood. Dioxins are formed unintentionally as by-products in combustion processes and in the synthesis of chlorine-containing compounds. Also, PCBs were produced until the 1980s for various industrial purposes. untill they were banned in 2001 due to health concerns.
People ingest these toxic chemicals by consuming animal products. Long-term exposure to dioxins can potentially lead to cancer and/or other health problems. According to scientific observations, dioxins may be linked to type 2 diabetes and obesity, increased mortality from cardiovascular disease, effects on the immune, nervous, and reproductive systems. We do know that lower sperm concentrations in males are a consequence of higher exposure in the womb and after birth. Lastly, it has been observed that exposure to dioxins may also lead to a lower ratio of sons to daughters in an affected population and to developmental enamel defects on teeth.
Tolerable weekly intake for dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs has been recently lowered to 8 pg/g wet weight, due to new scientific studies and evidence. The lab results showed that the average upperbound concentration of conventional salmon was 493 pg/kg. The concentrations in Revo Salmon were only 106 pg/kg,. Therefore, Revo Foods’ plant-based salmon has 4.6 times less dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs than conventional salmon. That means that consuming just half a kilo of regular salmon per week can already expose an adult to a dangerously high amount of dioxins. At the same time, consuming more than 2 kg of Revo Salmon over the same period is no problem.
In conclusion, scientific findings confirm that Revo Foods’ plant-based smoked salmon is safer for consumption than most popular smoked salmon products sold in Austria. Consumers do not have to limit their weekly consumption of Revo Salmon to avoid the accumulation of dioxins and mercury in their bodies.
