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)
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
i think you might be misinformed on the Canthaxanthin issue:
Canthaxanthin (pronounced /ˌkænθəˈzænθɪn/ ( listen)) is a carotenoid pigment widely distributed in nature. Carotenoids belong to a larger class of phytochemicals known as terpenoids. from the Food Standards agency: it is believed that canthaxanthin and some other carotenoids may have positive nutritional effects on the diet – they are believed to act as dietary antioxidants.
also the farmed fish from Chile was shown to have less Dioxins than the wild fish. Most of our Salmon here in the U.S. is from Chile not North America where the high levels of Dioxins were found. overall if we dont have aquaculture we wont have enough fish to eat! the aquaculture industry needs to address the antibiotics issue and the effluence issue, but we cant just ignore the benefits of farming fish.
Great article! Most sashimi salmon will be farmed salmon, because it is available year-round. Alaska does produce most of the wild salmon in the U.S., but hatcheries do contribute nearly 1/3 of the current marketed catch (pinks, then chum or “silver bright” salmon). All sockeye are truly wild (and delicious). The hatchery releases are closely managed in Alaska and are labeled as “wild caught”, but Russia, Japan, and China are building hatcheries and flooding the North Pacific (now at 500 billion salmon released annually), potentially affecting the food source for truly wild salmon stocks.
people wake up most “wild alaskan” is from a hatchery…..read this
it’s all a scam. i’m sick of these people. no one is honest anymore
http://www.pwsac.com/PSPD.pdf
You are being dishonest because you are making comments without knowing ALL the facts. A lot of the PINK salmon from Alaska are born in hatcheries and are released into the wild soon after. No Sockeye and very few King salmon are from hatcheries. Hatchery fish are not drugged throughout their life and do not pollute the inshore waters like farmed salmon. I’m sick of people that read one story then assume that they are now an expert…. Far from it. Go back to sleep.
I read every posting. I am getting ready to buy more canned kippered herring. The brands I buy are King Oscar , Appel and Polar the last two are alledgely from Germany and wild caught. We always look and purchase wild caught fish except my wife who eats Talapia. When I saw eating one serving of salmon per month I got ill. I eat kippers for breakfast almost every morning for forty years. I eat fish at lunch from fried catfish to blue gill and sushi at least half of my other meals. I eat meat less then a dozen times a year. I am obese however have lower then normal blood pressure a resting pulse of 58 blood test and physicals every six months. I just ordered 64 six oz. cans of wild caught herring.
If anyone has any difinitive answeres on over indulging in fish. Presently consuming almosy 3,000 calories per day in fish. I would need some guidence.
So very biased in your facts. Does EWG write your analysis? Maybe to be fair you should mention that the dyes used are made from the same carotenoids that wild salmon get their color from. Also the carotenoid canthaxanthin is the only one shown to cause retinal damage and it’s use is strictly controlled. One would need to eat 3kg of farm raised salmon daily to be harmed. I find the remainder of your analysis on nutrition is essentially accurate though outdated. The information on toxins is likewise outdated and misleading.
I have a question, I am trying to find where to purchase canned Atlantic Salmon and am having no luck, could you please help me? Thank you.
Hi Mark!
I live in Malaysia where it is impossible to get wild salmon or so I thought. recently I came across frozen wild Alaska salmon fillets sold in boxes by a brand called Queens. it even has a note to say that it’s certified sustainable fishing. have u heard of this brand? I cooked it tonight n thought it somewhat different from the regular farmed salmon- it wasn’t as pink, wasn’t as oily/ fatty n the flesh seemed tougher or drier(but that could be my bad cooking!). would really appreciate if u can help me out here Mark. thanks!
What about organic farmed salmon? Where does that sit on the scale?
I often find wild salmon in resturants are far too salty. Farm salmon is fine especially smoked salmon, which is as tasty as any other kind of cooked salmon. Smoked salmon usuaily means farmed salmon and going back to wild would hit the supply and cost of quality smoked salmon. If you talk to sellers and supplier of salmon they say pretty much the same thing, only some resturants will say differently but not, strange enough, many of the working chefs.
I’ve just come to your website as my daughter told me I was eating too much salmon and it contained PCB. I have now read the contents of your research and quite frankly horrified by what I read. Why on earth are Government bodies permitting fish farmers to use additives to fish feed knowing such to cause cancer? I suppose one might retort they permit cigarettes to be manufactured and sold so what’s the difference. It’s sheer lunacy and criminal as far as I’m concerned. Only wild salmon for me from this moment on, and in small quantities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54gcaAsm_gQ
Hmm was doing some research on wild versus farmed and ran into a couple of interesting papers. This one by the university of California agriculture division http://seafood.ucdavis.edu/pubs/farmed_and_wild_salmon.pdf
Table 1. USDA Nutrition Information for 100 Grams of Edible Cooked (Dry Heat) Farmed
and Wild Salmon
Calories Protein
(g)
Fat (g) Saturated
Fat (g)
Sodium
(mg)
Cholesterol
(mg)
Omega-3
(g)1
Farmed
Atlantic 206 22.1 12.3 2.5 61 63 2.1
Coho 178 24.3 8.2 1.9 52 63 1.2
Wild
Chinook
(King)
231 25.7 13.3 3.2 60 85 1.7
Sockeye
(Red)
216 27.3 10.9 1.9 66 87 1.2
Coho
(Silver)
139 23.4 4.3 1.0 58 55 1.0
Pink
(Humpback)
149 25.5 4.4 0.7 86 67 1.3
Chum (Keta) 154 25.8 4.8 1.0 64 95 0.8
1Omega-3 values equal the sum of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid
(DHA).
The chart is at the link in case it’s unreadable here.
Yo, the “farmed salmon doesn’t can well” link doesn’t work. Which is a shame, because I am really suspicious that most canned salmon is farmed…
This is worth a look ….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zheaUQqehnw
Thank you for the article. I’m dealing with spinal trama and the least bit of inflammation makes me sick for days. The Nutrition data site notes the differences in inflammation level in farmed Salmon as being very inflammatory and wild being very anti-inflammatory.
I can definitely tell the difference after eating farmed vs wild. About 12-24 hours of pain from spinal swelling and nerve pressure.