Fish expert Sofia B. Olsson is back today to answer a few more fishy questions. Sofia is head chef vRÅ (a fish restaurant in Gothenburg, Sweden) and incredibly knowledgeable when it comes to fish. Previously, she has helped us figure out which fish we can buy with a good conscience and explained the difference between KRAV-labeled, MSC-labeled and ASC-labeled fish. 

We regularly eat fish and have pondered for a while, what – if any – is the difference when it comes to nutritional content between wild and farmed fish. Is either way better than the other? So, of course we asked fish expert Sofia.

– Is there a difference in nutritional content between wild fish and farmed fish?

No, generally speaking you can not say that. While the nutritional content is obviously correlated to which kind of fish you are eating, it is also affected by what the fish themselves have been eating. If a wild fish ate a meager or poor diet, it in return will not contain great nutritional content. The same applies to farmed fish. However, if a fish farm is able to control the feed and give the fish highly nutritious food, the fish will then be higher in nutritional value. And again, vice versa there – a wild fish that has plenty of nutritious food where it lives, will also have more nutritional value. So I would say that, it is much more about what the fish eatsf than if it is farmed or wild.

-And this is probably hard to know as a consumer, right?

Yes unfortunately. The fish industry is far behind in terms of traceability. For example, in the meat industry, we talk about grass-fed meats and in many cases we can find out exactly where the animals have lived and been eating. In general it’s prefered to eat meat that has lived outside and eaten grass, for the sake of environment, taste and nutritional content. This concept and traceability is needed as well in the fish industry. What are the fish getting for feed? What does it contain? How does the manufacturing process look and so on. People can be very sceptical of this matter, but many good solutions to the problem exist.  I think being involved in the development process of these matters is very fun and inspiring. I hope it looks different in the near future.

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