Wild vs. Farm Salmon

Health experts encourage us to eat more oily fish for the sake of our hearts, but just how good for you is the salmon on sale in your local supermarket?

A recent American study has revealed that all farmed salmon contains alarmingly high levels of carcinogenic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins. However farmed salmon from Scotland contains the highest levels of these substances in the world. 99% of salmon on sale in British supermarkets today is farmed, and most of it is Scottish in origin.

 PCBs are highly toxic chemicals that are the result of industrial pollution between the 1920s and 1970s. Because they break down easily, they continue to contaminate the world’s supply. PCBs concentrate in oils and fats their levels are much higher in farmed salmon because of the high level of fish oil contained in the industrial fish meal that is used to feed the fish.

PCBs build up in the salmon at up to 30 times the level in their feed. Farmed salmon is ten times more contaminated and contains 52% more body fat than wild salmon, but it also contains 35% less of the healthy Omega 3 fatty acids.
While current advice is to eat at least two portions of oily fish a week, the American guidelines recommended eating farmed salmon no more than once every four months. To reduce exposure to PCBs, all visible fat should be trimmed before cooking and fish should be grilled or baked rather than fried to help lower the fat content.

Over the past 20 years there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of factory farmed salmon produced in Scotland. Farmed fish are kept in shallow concentrate troughs and intensive crowding– as many as five fish per square foot– which spread disease and parasites. To combat these, high dose of antibiotics are routinely fed to the fish.

As well as antibiotics, the pigment canthaxanthin is added to the fish meal to turn the flesh pink (untreated, the flesh of farmed salmon is grey because the fish are denied their natural carotenoid rich diet). Canthaxanthin is banned for direct human consumption because it is though to be carcinogenic. Organic salmon is much paler in colour than the conventionally farmed variety as no synthetic dye is permitted in its feed. Organic standards impose strict controls on feeding and nay fish meal must be made with the trimmings from fish caught for human consumption, not industrial fish meal. No growth hormones or GMOs are permitted, and the routine use of antibiotics is not allowed. What’s more, the use fish lives because stocking densities are half that of conventional farms.

Wild salmon is both safe and healthy to eat. Although fresh wild salmon can be expensive and difficult to find, most tinned salmon comes from wild stocks.

“99% of salmon on sale in British supermarkets today is farmed and most of it comes from Scotland”
“Farmed salmon from Scotland has been found to contain the highest levels of cancer-causing chemicals in the world”
“Given the cocktail chemicals, artificial colourings and contaminants, Scottish farmed salmon should carry a Government Health Warning”

The Facts- Farmed salmon vs. Wild Salmon

•    Contains high levels of toxins and carcinogens
•    Contains 52% more body fat than wild salmon but 35% less Omega 3
•    Routinely given antibiotics
•    Pink colour comes from the artificial pigment canthaxanthin, which is banned for direct human consumption
•    Fed industrial fish meal
•    No growth hormones or GMOs permitted
•    Routine use of antibiotics not allowed
•    Lower in fat, but higher in Omega 3
•    Flesh is pale in colour because synthetic dyes are not added to feed
•    Fed with fish meal made only from the trimmings of fish caught for human consumption