29 gru What’s the difference between „farm” and „wild” salmon, is it important?
Absolutely! To begin with, we see this difference in almost any food, be it for animal or human consumption; it’s like asking – is there a difference between battery chickens and free roaming ones? When it comes to salmons, the differences between the fish raised in pools and the ones circulating freely are reflected in the quality of the meat. We’ll list below the main aspects and we’ll let you decide for yourself what is best for your pet:
Omega 3: the amount of Omega 3 acids is up to 5 times higher in the wild salmon products, because of the different nutrition; while the farmed salmons’ food is monotonous and lacks a lot of nutritional elements (being focused solely on growth), the wild salmon has a varied nutrition, consisting of small fish, krill, plankton and algae.
Vitamins: the wild salmon meat has up to four times higher concentration of Vitamins D and B, thanks to a varied and healthy nutrition
Antibiotics, growth hormones, vaccines, other medical substances: it’s pretty obvious that the farmed salmons receive all these substances as part of their growth. Being an industry, the salmon farms are focused mainly on quantity – the sooner the fish grow, the sooner they can be collected and sold and a new generation hatched. Speeding up the growth and lowering the mortality rate is a priority, hence the fish receive all kinds of supplements: growth hormones, antibiotics, vaccines. All these will have a huge impact of the quality of the meat. Additionally, farmed salmons do not have the healthy, characteristic pink colour because their nutrition does not allow them to. Hence, colourants and other additives are included in the daily ratio.
Now, that you know all these, what do you think? Does it matter that it is wild salmon and not farmed? Which one do you prefer to buy for your pet?