The Briggs Story

In 1961, my mother, Randy, sent her family jars of home canned salmon from Alaska as Christmas gifts. Her brother, Dr.Theron G. Randolph, an eminent allergist from Chicago, liked the salmon so much, that he tested it on some of his extremely chemically sensitive patients. He found it the only canned seafood that they could tolerate. This was just what he had been looking for -- a source of chemically uncontaminated seafood for his chemically sensitive patients.

My mother was surprised to receive a letter from him telling us he had arranged to show our natural Alaska salmon at the Natural Food and Farming National Convention in St. Louis, Missouri. The response at the convention was so overwhelming that my parents decided to set up a, small hand pack, salmon processing plant in order to make this salmon available to persons desiring fine quality seafood free of chemical contaminants.

Mom (Randy) and Dad (Roger) retired from Briggs Way Company operation in 1993. I, (Roland), took over the processing operation at that time and renamed the company Ugashik Wild Salmon Co. I continue to provide fine quality thermally processed salmon in glass. Many long time Alaskan salmon fishermen consider Ugashik Wild Salmon to b the finest commercially processed salmon available.

There are many elements of the process which help produce such a fine product. First, the time from sea to icing the fish is literally minutes as we catch our fish right in front of our cannery. Most large operations experience a several hours pass before the fish are chilled.

Second, the fish are inspected, butchered and steam cooked. Each fish is carefully washed in pure water, (not chlorinated). The skin and bones are separated from the meat. The meat is inspected for bruises and imperfections before being packed in glass jars and thermally processed. If salt is used, pure solar evaporated salt is placed into the bottom of the jars before packing. After the salmon is thermally processed, each jar is inspected for imperfections labeled and packed for shipping.

Health Benefits

Fish oils are of the polyunsaturated type. These suppress blood serum cholesterol thus significantly contributing to the prevention of coronary heart disease and hardening of the arteries.
Among the most important sources of Vitamin A and D are the natural oils contained in fish. The fat that they contain is essential to good health and is of the type that protects against cholesterol accumulation and vitamin deficiency.

Nutritionists call the proteins found in fish near "perfect" in form. Essential amino acids, the complex molecules on which sound growth depends, are found in these fish proteins.