Farmed salmon “may contain as little as half the amount of omega-3s than it did a decade ago,” says a Civil Eats story that also appears at Time. Long-chain omega-3 fatty acids “deliver some big health benefits,” says WebMD, for development of babies and for adults. Civil Eats cites the International Fishmeal and Fish Oil Organization for documentation on the decline in omega-3 acids. The cause, says the story by Clare Leschin-Hoar, appears to be a change in the diets fed to salmon, which now include ingredients such as soy, algae and insects rather than forage fish such as anchovies and sardines.
“These small wild fish are ground up and made into fish oil and fishmeal–a critical part of the farmed salmon’s diet. And while they are the very source of the omega-3s consumers seek, most (people) choose larger fish like salmon and tuna, rather than eating sardines themselves,” says Civil Eats. A Cornell University professor says recent scientific studies “do not appear to support the view that omega-3 in farmed salmon is lower than in wild salmon.” The story says that even if farmed salmon carries less omega-3 than it used to, it’s now on par with wild salmon and “still packs more punch than species like tilapia, lobster and catfish.”