Salmon: Factory Farm vs. Wild
Last week I noted in my podcast with Jimmy Moore how expensive genuine wild salmon can cost. Since then, I’ve received a healthy number of emails asking for more info, tips, and the real benefits behind buying “wild.”
What exactly are salmon “farms”? How does the farm setting change the nutritional content of salmon? Is there really that much of a difference? Is farmed salmon even worth buying?
First off, salmon farms of some kind make up about 80% of salmon on the market today. (In the United States, the number is higher – 90% by some estimates.) Thirty percent come from traditional hatcheries, and the remaining 50% are raised in aquaculture or “open pen nets” just off shore. Farms can “raise” up to a million salmon at a time. I’ll throw in a visual.
Yup, gets more than a little crowded in there.
Because the farmed salmon are largely confined and fed a steady diet of formulated protein pellets, they’re inevitably fattier. “But isn’t that a good thing?” you might ask. “More omega-3s per serving, right?” The answers are “no” and “not really” to the above. I’ll explain.
Many assessments have found fewer omega-3s per ounce in farmed salmon compared with wild salmon, but we know the farmed stuff also comes with a hefty (not healthy) wallop of other fats including omega-6s. We then deal with the problem that the omega-6s and omega-3s compete for the same receptors in our bodies. Consequently, the “net” omega-3 gain will always be less than what you’ll get with a wild serving. Here’s a nifty chart that compares the fat content of some popular wild versus farmed fish varieties (including salmon) from this PDF.
And because the farmed fish are fattier, you’ll get less protein per serving as well.
To truly whet your appetite, I can’t skip the added ingredients you’ll get with a farmed fillet: dioxins, PCBs, fire retardants (those da-n things are everywhere, aren’t they???), pesticides (especially for sea lice), antibiotics, copper sulfate (to take care of algae on the nets), and – oh yeah – canthaxanthin (a dye associated with retinal damage used to make gray farmed fish various shades of “wild” pink).
As for dioxins, PCBs, and fire retardants, they show up in wild varieties as well, but the concentrations are vastly different. Tests have shown that farmed salmon contains 16 times more cancer-linked PCBs than wild salmon. The reason behind this difference? It’s those nasty little protein pellets – nuggets of mostly mashed fish and fish oil. The intense concentration of toxins from the fish feed builds up in the raised salmon over time – from fish farm to your fish dinner. Bon Appétit, by the way!
O.K., so you’re no fan of the farm anymore. To cloud the issue further, a “wild” label may only be telling a half truth. (They’re generally the less expensive “wild” brands offered in your grocery store.) As I described a few months back in Encore on Omegas, many to most “wild” salmon actually spend half their lives in hatcheries before being released. While these quasi-wild fish are a better nutritional deal than fully farmed salmon, they still bear the burdens of early exposure to toxins (dioxin, PCBs, etc.) and a less impressive omega 6:3 ratio.
So, what about truly wild salmon? As suggested, the genuine wild article only accounts for about 20% at most of the harvest. Some of the reasons it’s so darn expensive? The flood of farmed fish (and subsequent drop in asking price) has forced many traditional fishermen/women out of business. Add to this scenario the ongoing destruction of wild salmon populations by aquaculture farms, and we all end up paying a premium for the real thing.
Because the farm pens are essentially open, the enormous amount of disease- and parasite- (a.k.a. sea lice – yum!) laden waste is routinely allowed to contaminate the waters around the farm. Add to this environment the megadoses of pesticide-, toxin-, and antibiotic-laced waste, and the farms create a deadly environment for wild stocks that inhabit the areas. For more on the environmental destruction caused by aquaculture farms, check out these resources from the National Geographic, the New York Times, and the L.A. Times.
Your best bet finally is this: buy less salmon in order to afford the real deal. It’s all about bang for your buck after all. A smaller wild fillet will give you equal nutrition with fewer toxins. Additionally, look for Alaskan over Northwestern salmon. And don’t rule out canned salmon for big savings. Apparently, farmed salmon doesn’t can well, which means the majority of canned salmon is wild. (Pink salmon, the most commonly canned variety, doesn’t contain as much good fats as other kinds.) It’s one way to make salmon a more affordable addition to your Primal-style salad!
Finally, if you do choose to eat farmed salmon, the Environmental Working Group (applying EPA health standards) suggests eating no more than one serving of farmed salmon a month.
And, of course, I suggest you ensure a healthy daily dose of omega-3s with a good quality, pure fish oil supplement! (We know: broken record. What can we say?)
Your comments, questions, anecdotes, or additions? I look forward to them!
kuow949, axiepics Flickr Photos (CC)
Further Reading:
On the Problems of Cultivated Fruit
Omega-3 Round Up:
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
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Is no food sacred? Eventually it is going to be us being forcefed “Protien pellets”. 1 processed and synthisized pellet contains all the nutrition and nutrients a body needs! FDA approved and supported by the Corn Growers of America and Big Agra. Thank you for the heads-up mark, we just had some expensive salmon for dinner the other night and I don’t know if it was wild or farmed but I will definitely be looking in the future!
Hey Mark,
You mentioned eating less but wild salmon than from farms. It makes sense, may a little side tracked question but I’ll ask it anyways. If for any reason wild salmon is out of question, should we avoid eating salmon at all ? or are farm salmons are good alternatives to no salmon?
thanks.
Protein pellets made from mashed fish, eh? The salmon equivalent of Soylent Green!
I have also read that farmed salmon has to be dyed pink to give it that “healthy” wild glow, since it isn’t eating wild food! What a bargain!
NoDiet, what we are disovering is that there is a continuum of bad to good foods. Grains are on the bad end and grass-fed beef or wild salmon on the good end. I guess farmed salmon is still better than a plate full of mashed potatoes and corn in that regard. Eating PB style is about knowing the variables and making choices based on that knowledge. Yeah, I’ll admit I do eat farmed salmon every once in a blue moon (say, at a restaurant after two nights of steak in a row) but I’ll also double my Omega 3 supplements that day.
Son of Grok, hey you could always drink Brawndo…it’s got electrolytes (three points if you know where that’s from).
Idiocracy? I am a big Mike Judge fan. He grew up here in Albuquerque.
Can you tell from the packaging how “wild” the wild salmon is?
With so much doubt in salmon, are other types of fish a better choice?
Great question, David!
We’ll be sure to address it in a future post.
Maybe it’s me, but I find it downright discouraging that it’s so hard to find decent food to eat these days. If you would have told man in the ancient days that it would come to this, he never would have believed it. It’s a sad state of affairs when you have to be wealthy to afford food that some team of food scientists hasn’t tampered with.
Mark, this was my first visit and I was blown away with your research and accuracy. I’ll never look at salmon again the same way again. While softgels might be the only way to go, they give me stomach upset and I can’t take them. Will there ever be a better solution? Thanks for being an earth angel and sharing.
Freeze your fish oil capsules. They will not upset your stomach or give you any nasty burb ups of fish oil.
I have heard that farmed fish were no where near as healthy as fish found in the wild, not to mention the cruelty of the idea of not allowing for a normal natural life for these fish. I have read that their are a lot of departures if you will from normal physical development as well. I think the sentiment is in the right place but we can perfect these tactics and give the fish a better life.
Mark,
What about other canned fish such as Mackeral and Sardines. Are the canned varities of these fish also wild?
Thanks,
Thanks for the question, Brett. Check back next week for answers.
Cheers!
I have questions too about the “Chicken of the Sea” Pink Salmon that I’ve been eating. It seems too good to be true! The 6 oz. foil packet states: “Premium Wild-Caught Alaskan”. I like the taste and it is convenient. And it only costs a couple of bucks. The package also states that a 2 ounce serving provides 245 mg of EPA and DHA. (I eat the whole 6 ounces in my salads.)
I love sushi but it’s gotten that I don’t trust what type of fish is offered, so I’ve cut way down on eating it. It’s a shame.
Wow amazing research Mark. Really opened my eye’s to what is going on with Farmed Salmon…..I guess it really is worth paying that bit more for farmed organic fish. Thanks for the research and depth of the post, very good article!
Thanks to MDA I’ve been aware of this for a while, appreciate the in depth article though!
At my local supermarket they sell MSC Wild Alaskan Salmon fillets which are absolutely delicious. In fact, I’m having one tonight…can’t wait.
Mark L,
Pink salmon is invariably wild and cheap. It’s also likely to be one of the least contaminated with mercury and other toxins due to its lower position on the food chain (compared to larger species like king and atlantic). My research also indicates that its one of the highest in O-3’s.
I was at the butcher just now picking out all of my good WILD fish and grass-fed, hormone free organic meet for the week. I am glad I asked what was wild and what was farm raised. It just so happens that the good salmon we had last week was wild! So I am good to go
I love fish but it is difficult to find fish that is not farm raised unless you catch it yourself. I saw a segment on TV about farm raised Tilapia that bothered me. The fed them pellets in a long aluminum tank. Many of the fish were eating each others poop too.
Salmon is great but it is soooo expensive! That is why I opt for taking a high quality fish oil on a regular basis.
Which Is Better? Eating Fish Or Taking Fish Oil Capsules?
Trout Unlimited has a campaign running, to encourage people to buy more wild salmon and to ask for wild salmon at the grocery store. The more people know about this, the more we can help wild salmon stocks to recover. The example of the red drum fish recovery in the south, and striped bass in the north, shows what can be done.
Check it out at
http://www.whywild.org
Much of America’s farmed salmon comes from Chile. Not only does it have all the yummy additives you mentioned, but a heavy load of antibiotics as well. Here’s what’s happening in Chile:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/26/america/salmon.php
I’ve noticed some cans of salmon have a raised stamp on the lid that says “wild caught” whereas other salmon that claims is wild caught only says so on the label. Is there a diffence?
I personally eat Kelley-Clarke Wild Alaskan Canned Pink Salmon (linked here: http://www.icicleseafoods.com/locations/kcs/blacktop/ni_pink.asp
Does anyone have any experience with this brand? The site says wild caught and practically devoid of mercury/other contaminants due to the fish’s short life. I have it every day as part of my big salad and would like to know others thoughts.
Farmed salmon also spread disease to the wild salmon who are trying to survive. Farmed salmon contribute to the decrease in wild salmon.
Totally agree with this article. Farmed salmon will kill a person. Would like to post this article to our website if that is ok? Please let me know – thanks!
I personally eat Kelley-Clarke Wild Alaskan Canned Pink Salmon (linked here: http://www.icicleseafoods.com/locations/kcs/blacktop/ni_pink.asp
Does anyone have any experience with this brand? The site says wild caught and practically devoid of mercury/other contaminants due to the fish’s short life. I have it every day as part of my big salad and would like to know others thoughts.
Hi
I ate salmon {wild} very little farmed salmon, tuna, along with a variety of seafoods in the form of sushi and sashimi for 11 years, as my prime source of protein and omega 3 fatty acid..I got high blood pressure, heart problems, eye problems, heavy legs, gout, thick soles on my feet, red finger and toe nails, twitching eye, loss of eye lash’s, grey hair, and a host of nasty shit like insomnia. I thought eating fish 3-4 times a week raw{sashimi} so it is not cooked in fatty oils etc, was healthy..hahaha. I damn near killed myself and went from athletic at 46 with better than perfect blood pressure, and no health problems to severe arthritis in my limbs and all the nasty crap imaginable. I was a wreck 4 months ago after eating what I thought was great food. I cured it all by stop eating all seafoods, used cilantro and chlorella to remove the Mercury, PCB’s, Cadmium, and lead. I used tart cherries and their juice, along with apple cider vinager, to relieve the uric acid buildup {causes gout} High Purines in seafood can cause uric acid build up. I used Greens + smoothie drink, as it contains Chlorella and alfalfa as it binds the murcury being flushed from all cells, including the brain, that cilantro was doing. I have reversed the crap all the seafood caused.Anyone saying Tuna or excessive amounts of seafood is safe is a fool.I know as my blood pressure soared, my right eye was twitching so bad it was unbearable and I had problems with spotty vision. At 56, my health is rapidly returning, my grey hair is turning brown with blonde highlights again, all the heavy let and gout are gone.. my muscle mass has improved and all the arthritis that was plaguing my life is either gone or almost gone. It took 11 years to wreck my health and 4 months to resore it.I now use walnuts and soy drink {silk} for omega 3.. currants for omega 6. I eat more organic foods now than ever before and I recommend a greens supplement. I love greens _ by sam Graci.Not endorsing any product just passing on my experience. I don’t care what anyone says about the health benefits of seafood. Keep it, I can be healthy without it and just might live longer.. TIA
Bill, always a naysayer somewhere. Actually, that sounds like a bunch of bunk to me
Hi – Can you please tell me how I can differentiate between wild and farmed salmon ONCE IT IS COOKED AND ON MY PLATE. I need to know for sure so as not to have to depend on the waitress to tell me. Thanks so much !! Suzi
LIFE’S TOO SHORT TO FOLD YOUR UNDERWEAR
doin a project on farmed salmon need some info
Thanks so much for this article and research. Poor me! I had thought farm raised is better in my head and we always do salmon farm raised once a week since for the past 4wks. Thank God I stumbled on the website courtesy of my wife inquisition.
Henceforth, I have to request for Wild Alaska Salmon from my local Publix Store or Whole Foods (if I can drive 20miles)..
but come to think of it, what’s safe to eat again? Chicken? Beef? or Goat? Maybe!
Maybe I should be a vegetarian….or go back to my village and look for real natural stuff