Some nutritional results are more favourable in farmed salmon than in those fished in the wild

Salmon Salmon.Photo: Berit Roald / NTB scanpix

The levels of dioxins and pesticides, such as DDT and brominated flame retardants, are higher in wild salmon than in salmon bred from fish farms.

These conclusions are demonstrated by an analysis of 200 salmon, half of them farmed, and the others caught in the ocean at five places in northern Norway.

The study, conducted by the National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES), is the first comparing pollutants and nutrients in both Norwegian farmed salmon and wild salmon, according to Dagens Næringsliv newspaper.

‘The level of these pollutants depend on what the fish eat. Fish oil is the main source of organic pollutants from salmon.

‘The farmed fish that we eat today, contains less fish oil, and more plant oil and plant meal’, said senior scientist, Anne-Katrine Lundebye, at NIFES.

The levels of contaminants in both wild and farmed salmon are well below the EU limit. It is also important to emphasize that not all measurements are in favour of farmed salmon.

Wild salmon contains more selenium, zink and iron, and has ten times as favourable a composition of omega 3 and omega 6. The levels of cadmium, lead, and the pesticides endosulfan, and penta chlorobenzene, are approximately equal in salmon types.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today