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[aquapaloosa]

higher risk of adding to the PCB's we are already ingesting with other foods we eat.

I was wondering when you would past this again.  I see you have reduced the comment to "higher risk".
Hilarius AF!! HA HA.  You the fella spinning around here bud.  You are a true campaigner.  

[alwaysfishn]

Fish farmers are in a difficult situation. While feeding larger quantities of fish meal and fish oil to the salmon results in a tastier fish that has higher levels of Omega 3, it is also much more expensive to raise salmon this way. To cut costs, the feedlots are feeding their salmon higher percentages of processed grains which lower their costs, however it increases the level of Omega 6 and lowers the level of Omega 3 in the final product. Their spin on this is that farmed salmon is efficient in that "it only takes one unit of fish meal to grow one unit of salmon". While this may be true, they are not telling you how it negatively affects the final product.

Their advertising campaigns indicate that you should buy their product because of the Omega 3 content, however they fail to mention the problems associated with the increasingly high levels of Omega 6 in their product, which offset any potential benefit of the Omega 3. The public is being duped into buying their product, while being shortchanged on the advertised benefits.

Is this ethical? Should they be required to disclose this information on their labels?  

http://www.imakenews.com/eletra/mod_print_view.cfm?this_id=518607&u=vitalchoiceseafood&issue_id=000106459&show=F,T,T,T,T,Article,F,F,F,F,T,T,F,F,T,F

[Bassonator]

Fish farmers are in a difficult situation. While feeding larger quantities of fish meal and fish oil to the salmon results in a tastier fish that has higher levels of Omega 3, it is also much more expensive to raise salmon this way. To cut costs, the feedlots are feeding their salmon higher percentages of processed grains which lower their costs, however it increases the level of Omega 6 and lowers the level of Omega 3 in the final product. Their spin on this is that farmed salmon is efficient in that "it only takes one unit of fish meal to grow one unit of salmon". While this may be true, they are not telling you how it negatively affects the final product.

Their advertising campaigns indicate that you should buy their product because of the Omega 3 content, however they fail to mention the problems associated with the increasingly high levels of Omega 6 in their product, which offset any potential benefit of the Omega 3. The public is being duped into buying their product, while being shortchanged on the advertised benefits.

Is this ethical? Should they be required to disclose this information on their labels? 

Sorta like Mazola does and the warnings that comes with nuts and their high levels of omega 6.
Give it up AF you cant win, trust me when I say people see the salmonn label and thats all....I had a heart attack in march of this year so I tend to look at labels differently now and belong to healthy heart now, when my nutrietionist said I should increase my omega 3s with the consumption of more fish, salmon prefferedly, natrually I asked is farmed ok and guess what she said no problem, I still eat my sockeye and springs but enjoy a little atlantic on the barbie too.

[Novabonker]

I was just sitting here wondering how many of the feedlot crew derive all or part of their income from farmed salmon....

[Bassonator]

I was just sitting here wondering how many of the feedlot crew derive all or part of their income from farmed salmon....

Not me Im unemployed at the moment, and truck driver by trade.

[Dave]

Not me, retired.

[alwaysfishn]

Sorta like Mazola does and the warnings that comes with nuts and their high levels of omega 6.
Give it up AF you cant win, trust me when I say people see the salmonn label and thats all....I had a heart attack in march of this year so I tend to look at labels differently now and belong to healthy heart now, when my nutrietionist said I should increase my omega 3s with the consumption of more fish, salmon prefferedly, natrually I asked is farmed ok and guess what she said no problem, I still eat my sockeye and springs but enjoy a little atlantic on the barbie too.

Sorry to hear that Bassonator, it's the kind of wakeup call no one wants to get!

If nothing else hopefully the information provides a little more knowledge on the issue of Omega 3 to Omega 6 ratios.  I suggest you bring up the discussion of Omega 6/3 ratios with your nutritionist next time you see them.

The information I provided suggests that if you are going to spend money on salmon, buy wild. The Farmed salmon product does not provide the value the consumer has been led to believe it has... Or if you insist on buying that stuff, eat more walnuts and flax seeds to get your Omega 3.

[shuswapsteve]

I beg to differ.....  

Logic dictates that if the average North American's current intake ratio of Omega 6 to 3 is 30:1 and they eat farmed salmon that has an Omega 6 to 3 ratio of 1:2, then they have not improved their intake ratio at all, no matter how much farmed salmon they eat! And with the trend of substituting processed grains for fishmeal, the level of Omega 3 in the feedlot salmon will continue to decrease.

On the other hand if you eat wild salmon which has an Omega 6 to 3 ratio of 1:19, depending on the quantity of wild salmon you eat, you can dramatically improve your intake ratio.

The main selling point of the fish feedlot business is "eat farmed salmon because it is high in Omega 3 and the benefit of Omega 3 outweighs the fact that the farmed stuff is high in PCB's".   That is false.

The truth is the Omega 3 in farmed salmon is not high enough to make any difference to a person's health and eating farmed salmon puts you at higher risk of adding to the PCB's we are already ingesting with other foods we eat.

Well you can differ, but you are still wrong and being duped.  Of course there are Omega-3 benefits from eating farmed salmon.  As you can see from the reports I posted there is definitely benefit.

That ratio of 30:1 has more to do with North Americans eating foods that are not as good for them – like processed foods as you already mentioned.  That’s the real problem – not farmed salmon.  North Americans eat too much saturated fat, salt and sugar.  They are getting that from the processed foods and fast foods.  How does farmed salmon with a ratio of 1:2 compare to 30:1?

Sorry, but the benefits of Omega-3 in farmed salmon outweigh the risks associated with PCBs.  Look at the last study I posted:  http://salmonfarmscience.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/health_2006_fish_intake_contaminants_and_human_health.pdf
It’s not even close.  You are so far out of the ballpark with your beliefs on this.  For instance, the levels of PCB found by Hites et al 2004 were 1/80th of the acceptable limits established by Health Canada.  If you read the study from the Journal of the American Medical Association, your risk of coronary heart disease is substantially higher than any risk from cancer from PCBs in farmed fish.  Check with the EPA and the American Heart Association to see which is risk is worse.  The reduction in the risk of CHD (a much bigger public health threat) is improved substantially more by eating farmed salmon than the risk of cancer from people eating farmed salmon.  Per 100 000 individuals, consumption of farmed vs wild salmon would result in 24 vs 8 excess cancer deaths, respectively, while consumption of either farmed or wild salmon would result in 7125 fewer CHD deaths (Foran et al 2005; reference in the JAMA study).  Your cancer fears from farmed salmon do not match reality, AF.  More people in this country will die from CHD than from PCBs related cancers.  You might want to try finding where PCB related tumours have been found sometime.  They have been found in rodents – not humans.  Fact is that the major sources of any PCBs or dioxins are with meats and dairy products – not farmed salmon.  Don’t take my word for it – look it up.

The truth is that the Omega-3 in farmed salmon is high enough to make a difference.  People should be more focused on the benefits of Omega-3 from farmed salmon than some ratio that is not even close to the 30:1.  People should be more focused on saturated fats, sugar and salt.  People should be focused more on the nutrition label on the food they buy instead of getting hung up on a ratio.  To avoid the 30:1 ratio you mention, people need to make changes to their gluttonous diets by incorporating more foods with Omega-3 fatty acids which are found in both farmed and wild salmon.  Pitting one against the other is wrong.  It is much better trade-off to eat farmed salmon than not at all and that is fact.  Read the links I posted.  Instead of harping on the disadvantages of farmed salmon, critics should really be encouraging people to start eating more seafood (whether it is farmed or wild salmon) and getting them to eat less of the foods that are higher in saturated fats, sugar and salt.

In my opinion, a person should really only worry about contaminants in seafood in certain situations where areas have local health advisories.  Environmentalists against salmon farms who try to persuade the consumer away from farmed salmon are actually doing more harm than good. However, a "pro-fear mongering politician" like you can never resist.

[alwaysfishn]

You are so focused on defending your feedlots that you are repeating the feedlot rhetoric that doesn't even apply to the discussion.

I started the discussion simply to point out that while the feedlot advertising tells the consumer that they should eat farmed salmon because of the Omega 3 content, the Omega 3 level in the farmed stuff is not nearly high enough to offset the high Omega 6 intake in the average north american diet. I never even implied that eating farmed salmon is the cause of the 30:1 high Omega 6 to Omega 3 intake levels.

I believe it's important for the public to know that because of the high grain diets these feedlot fish are being fed, that the Omega 3 levels are minimal, while the Omega 6 has been elevated. Eating farmed salmon therefore has minimal benefit.The positive of the new diet is that the fish have lower levels of PCB's....