Salmon: Farmed salmon is increasingly being fed with chicken

Two of Europe's largest salmon farming companies will now use poultry-based feed. This is what the Financial Times reports. Accordingly, the Norwegian fish producer Lerøy is already using such feed in all offshore farms, and the company Mowi is apparently planning to use it. According to the Financial Times, the Grieg company has already introduced poultry feed for its farmed salmon and the Grieg company is testing it.

This apparently breaks a long-standing taboo in salmon farming. In the EU and Great Britain, poultry-based feed for fish was banned due to fears of disease. Although Norway is not a member of the EU, Norwegian companies operate aqua farms off the coast of Scotland. The EU Commission changed its position: as long as no cannibalism is involved, there are no health risks. However, probably out of fear of consumers, fish producers hesitated to feed their farmed salmon with animal products that do not come from other fish. Now the manufacturers apparently hope that salmon bred with chicken will not spoil people's appetite.

The decision is intended in particular to reduce the costs of farming operations: salmon feed on fish. However, the price of fish-based salmon feed has doubled in the past two years, according to the Financial Times. Poultry-based feed is about half as expensive. In addition, demand from China is increasing.

The conditions in salmon farming have been causing outrage for many years. Degenerate animals break out of nets in the sea, mingle with wild salmon and endanger them. In April 2024, SPIEGEL reported on the abuses in salmon farming in Iceland.

“How I lost my desire for poke bowls and sushi”: Eating salmon is healthy and harmless, according to the myth. Aquaculture destroys the habitat of wild fish. Read here how a year of research has changed SPIEGEL editor Jan Petter's view of the industry - and how sustainable consumption could still succeed.