September 3, 2003
NUTRITION NEWS FOCUS
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Today's Topic: Wild or Farmed Fish For Health

There is uncertainty among the public whether farmed fish is less
healthy than wild caught fish, particularly salmon.  Claims that
farmed fish have less omega-3 fats, more pollutants, pollute the
ocean, and so forth have been made.  Some issues are easily settled
while others are not.

Theoretically, farmed salmon could  have more pollutants like PCBs
than wild salmon, primarily because farmed salmon has more fat and
PCBs dissolve into fat.  But several analyses shows the opposite.
However, the level in both types is so low that it is not a health
issue.  Salmon farming is highly regulated in the U.S.; the fish
cannot be farmed under any conditions that pose a hazard to human
health by exposure to contaminants or infectious agents.

The claim that farmed fish have less omega-3 fat is true only when
expressed as a percent of total fat.  Because farmed fish has more
total fat, the omega-3 content is the same as in wild fish.  The
charge that farmed salmon are artificially colored is untrue.  Wild
salmon eat smaller creatures that contain astaxanthin and other
carotenoids that turn their flesh orange.  The same pigment is added
to the fish meal fed to farmed salmon.

Wild salmon have higher mercury levels than farmed fish but, again,
the levels are low enough in both that this is not a concern.  These
are examples where statistically significant differences are exploited
by some but are biologically meaningless.  The bottom line is salmon
is a healthy food and it really doesn't matter where your fish got
fat.