SALMON - A HEALTHY CHOICE?
As many of you know, I prioritise knowing about the food I eat – the where, who and how the food was raised and/or prepared. This isn’t always as easy as it once was and I believe, should be.
Salmon is a case in point. So many people in Australia consume salmon regularly believing it to be a healthy food to eat. I used to do that too until I discovered that all fresh salmon in Australia is farmed and, from what I have been able to ascertain, the way salmon is farmed in Australia has me saying ‘no thanks’. Concerns around animal and thus human health in addition to environmental damage are the issues for me.
At this point I’m putting it out there that I am happy to be corrected on what I’m about to share about salmon. Like so much to do with food in particular and health in general, there are so many conflicting stories. People get so confused. The way I deal with it is to sit with the different sides of the story and, in addition to a hefty dose of commonsense, I go with what feels right for me and then have to be good with that. The more traditionally the food is raised or prepared is usually my starting point. In the case of farmed salmon (basically all fresh salmon in Australia) I can’t say any of it feels right to me so unless being served it by someone who has taken the trouble to prepare it for me at their home, and probably has no idea of the way its produced, I don’t consume it.
The attached photos, illustrate some of my concerns:
- the salmofan where salmon farmers choose the colour of salmon they would like to produce. It seems that farmed salmon is an unappetizing grey colour. So pellets of pigment are fed to the fish to colour them.
- While one of the major health benefits of salmon is the fat content, most of the fat in wild salmon is concentrated under the skin. In farmed salmon there is fat under the skin but also thick white stripes of it through the flesh (the salmon to the right of the attached photo) As with animals – cows, pigs, chicken, duck, lamb – the fat of the animal is only healthy to eat (super healthy in fact) if the animal was raised in a traditional, regenerative way. The fat of an animal raised in a commercial, feedlot way should not be consumed. It is a source of toxins. This also applies to farmed salmon. Toxins from the unhealthy, overcrowded environment they are raised in. Toxins from medications they are given, often prophylactically. Toxins from the feed they are fed.
In the wild, salmon eat algaes and small fish like anchovies and krill which contribute to their colour and health benefits like omega 3 fats. Farmed salmon are fed pellets. Once these pellets were of various fish which in itself was absurd as you have twice as much fish going in to feed the salmon as what is coming out. Not at all sustainable as has now been realized with a shortage of fish for feed for the farmed salmon. The growers in their wisdom now feed the salmon, animal protein, mainly chicken, as well as various grains, among other ‘interesting’ ingredients, none of which resemble salmon’s natural diet nor contribute to salmon’s reputation as being very healthy food. These feed pellets contribute to farmed salmon containing higher omega 6 fats over the much sort after and extremely beneficial omega 3 fats. In addition, one of the reasons for the high omega 3 fats in fish is due to them living in very cold waters. The amount of omega 3 fats is reduced in farmed fish where the water is warmer, as well as in fish from warmer countries eg most tinned tuna is from places like Thailand where the water is warmer (read the label for country of origin).
Over the years, we have been led to believe that eating salmon regularly is necessary for our health. Like the push with various ‘superfoods’, there is no one food we all must eat regularly for our health. And certainly no food that is grown thousands of miles away from us requiring processing and transporting to eventually get it to our plates that we must eat as part of a healthy diet. In Australia where I live, there is NO fresh salmon available however there are numerous species of other local, wild/sustainably grown fish, that will provide equal if not superior taste and health benefits to salmon. Just a note that ‘Australian Salmon’ that is easily caught in Australian waters is NOT the same as the orange flesh salmon. You can read more about that salmon here
This post has now become quite long (what’s new ) so very briefly, other issues around farmed salmon are seasonality - traditionally salmon had a short season of a couple of months. Like so many foods today there is now no season, its just available year long due to unnatural growing methods. And finally food miles (though not really finally as there’s sooo much more information to share on this topic. It is bizarre to me that to purchase wild salmon for consumption, on an island like Australia, we need to purchase salmon from countries like Canada, Alaska (the salmon on the left of the attached photo) and Northern Europe or New Zealand which while still farmed, boasts healthier and sustainable practices. I’m still doing my research on this.
Ultimately the consumer can have a huge impact on whether these unhealthy practices continue. As mentioned in a previous post, we have seen the increase of regenerative farming practices adopted by farmers of animals and other produce due in large part to public awareness and thus demand. We can do the same with salmon, all our seafood in fact. What we must keep in mind however (and will have to due to cost and supply) is that we can’t be demanding foods grown regeneratively in large quantities nor do we need to. The nutrient density of these foods, especially due to extremely beneficial fat soluble nutrients, means we can consume a very little most days or a slightly larger quantity once or twice a week, possibly even less frequently.
This video is a fabulous smack down from David Suzuki at a lunch in Australia back in 2008, where people had gathered to talk about the detrimental impact on the environment of farmed fish.
What I share on this page are my views (unless stated otherwise) based on my research, my experience and my beliefs.
The posts are only provided as food for thought
