Farmed salmon feed commonly contains a mixture of animal- and plant-based ingredients formulated to meet the nutritional requirements of the fish while promoting growth and health.

Additives are frequently included to enhance feed quality, palatability, and nutritional value.

Key common additives in salmon feed include pigments, vitamins, minerals, probiotics, and preservatives.

Pigments, such as astaxanthin, are added to salmon feed to enhance the characteristic pink-orange coloration of salmon flesh, which is otherwise pale in farmed fish.

Vitamins and minerals ensure nutritional adequacy, supporting health and growth.

Probiotics and prebiotics can be incorporated to improve gut health, immunity, and disease resistance.

Preservatives help maintain feed stability during storage.

Uncommon or controversial additives include fishmeal and fish oil derived from "feed-grade" fish, which are small, low-value, or juvenile fish not suitable for human consumption.

The use of feed-grade fish in aquaculture feed has been associated with ecological concerns, as it often involves harvesting juvenile fish critical to wild populations and ocean ecosystems.

To mitigate this, some countries are promoting compound feeds that reduce reliance on feed-grade fish by substituting plant proteins such as soy, wheat gluten, and corn gluten meal.

Reducing fishmeal and fish oil usage in feeds also aligns with sustainability efforts.

A notable controversial preservative is the antioxidant ethoxyquin, historically used to prevent spoilage in feed ingredients but scrutinized for potential health risks.

Antibiotics have also been used in salmon farming feed for disease prevention and treatment, raising concerns about antibiotic residues in food and the development of antimicrobial resistance.

Health concerns linked to farmed salmon feed additives focus mostly on the accumulation of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as PCBs and dioxins, which can bioaccumulate through fishmeal and fish oil.

Farmed salmon feed commonly contains a mixture of animal- and plant-based ingredients formulated to meet the nutritional requirements of the fish while promoting growth and health.

Title:

Content: 262
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China Works to Get Wild-Caught Fish Out of its Aquaculture Feed

[By Zhang Chun]

A 2021 Chinese government initiative to stop aquaculture feed being made from only young or low-value fish and to instead start producing “compound feed” – mixed with ingredients harvested from the land – is opening up a greener future for the sector.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, in a series of trials last year, the sole use of low-value “feed-grade” fish as aquaculture feed was reduced by 77 percent, and by as much as 94 percent in farming of largemouth bass. Experts say the switch to compound feed could see overall use of feed-grade fish slashed by half for farming of certain species.

What is compound feed?

Compound feed normally contains a mixture of animal- and plant-based ingredients, and added nutrients such as vitamins. For aquaculture feeds containing fishmeal and fish oil, common additives include soy proteins, wheat gluten and corn gluten meal.

Feed-grade fish are those in a catch that are small, low in commercial value, or unsuitable for human consumption. They are sent to be processed into fishmeal and fish oil, or fed directly to farmed fish. But a significant proportion of feed-grade fish consists of juveniles of commercially important species. Once caught they can no longer grow into adult fish and breed, or be caught and sold on the market. Their removal damages ocean food chains and ecosystem stability.

The last decade and more has seen increased calls for China to tackle the use of feed-grade fish in aquaculture, but the current round of trials is the first organised by the Ministry of Agriculture. It focuses on species such as the yellow croaker, Japanese sea bass and largemouth bass, which tend to be fed more feed-grade fish. While those species don’t account for much of China’s fed aquaculture output, they do require much more protein than others to put on the same amount of weight. Compound feed cuts down on the use of fish by substituting vegetable alternatives, and is cheaper.

In the long term, sustained reductions in the use of fishmeal and fish oil in feed will be necessary to protect wild fisheries.

Aquaculture driving feed-grade fish catch

Fishers never used to set out to catch feed-grade fish; it was bycatch, with no economic value. Then in the 1980s, global aquaculture took off. “There was a lot of need for fishmeal and oil,” Rashid Sumalia, a fisheries researcher at the University of British Columbia, told China Dialogue. People started going out “purposely to catch them at distance, because there was a market”, he added.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO’s) 2020 global fisheries and aquaculture report, the use of fish for reduction to fishmeal and fish oil peaked in 1994 at 30 million tonnes, and stood at 18 million tonnes by 2018. Another 4 million tonnes were used elsewhere, including directly in feed for aquaculture, livestock and fur animals.

It wasn’t until the mid and late 1990s that aquaculture took off in China. The FAO’s 1998 fisheries and aquaculture report describes how rare it was for fish catches in Asia to go unused or be used as aquaculture feed. But in Asia, particularly in China and Vietnam, aquaculture has expanded rapidly and the region now accounts for almost 90 percent of global output. In China, output tripled between 1998 and 2020, to represent 60 percent of the global total.

Although many of the species farmed in China need little or no feed, fed fish and crustacean aquaculture accounts for half of output and requires millions of tonnes of feed-grade fish from Chinese waters alone. China does not currently have statistics on its feed-grade fish catch or use in fed aquaculture. One study calculated that in 2016 4.6 million tonnes of feed-grade fish were caught, 35 percent of the total recorded catch in China’s waters, and most was used directly as feed.

“The state is certainly aware of the problem,” said Fang Qing, China general manager for the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, adding that the difficulty in banning some harmful types of fishing gear in China is due to the ongoing market for the feed-grade fish it brings in. Since 2018, China has put minimum size limits in place for 15 commercial fish species, and ruled that feed-grade fish catch would drop to below 20% by 2020. There is no data available indicating whether this target was met.

This it isn’t just a Chinese problem. According to a 2017 study by the University of British Columbia, many countries, including the US and Norway, use feed-grade fish directly as feed. But the practice increased significantly in Asia between the 1990s and 2010, with feed-grade fish coming to account for a high percentage of landed catches.

Replacing feed-grade fish

In early 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture announced it would work to make Chinese aquaculture more environmentally friendly, and proposed the use of compound feed instead of purely fish-based feed. In April 2021, several provinces started trials of compound feed as part of more concrete action plans.

Compound feed for aquaculture is usually a mix of fishmeal, fish oil, wheat flour, soybean meal, vegetable oil and other land-grown ingredients. The amount of fishmeal and fish oil needed depends on the type of fish to be fed, and its stage of growth. According to Fang Qing, carnivorous fish such as the yellow croaker need huge quantities of meat protein at certain stages in their growth, and the relationship between particular nutrients and the growth and physiology of the fish can be complex. Hence, producing appropriate compound feed involves a lot of research and development.

To quantify how efficiently a species is farmed, the aquaculture industry uses a ratio called Fish in:Fish out (FIFO). The closer the FIFO is to 1, the more fish meat is produced per unit of input; a score of 1 means an extra kilogram of fish used as feed results in an extra kilogram of fish to harvest.

A study published in 2020 shows a FIFO of almost 1 for salmon and trout, thanks to the use of compound feeds which require less fishmeal and fish oil. If only fish were used to feed those species, the FIFO figure would be similar to that of the yellow croaker – over 6, according to an upcoming paper co-authored by Zhang Wenbo, an assistant professor in the College of Fisheries and Life Science at Shanghai Ocean University. His research into conventional yellow croaker aquaculture in China found that the direct use of feed-grade fish is still the best option for the yellow croaker farmers. But Fang Qing told China Dialogue that a lot of feed-grade fish fed to yellow croaker goes uneaten, and ends up sinking to the seabed or rotting, causing pollution and increasing the risk of disease.

More compound feed use would help reduce FIFO numbers in two ways: by cutting use of feed-grade fish, and by increasing conversion ratios – that is, generating more fish growth per unit of feed.

Zhejiang is taking the lead in both those areas. Since 2016, the province has been shutting fishmeal factories during the closed season and restricting the percentage of feed-grade fish in the overall catch. This, combined with the use of compound feed, saw Zhejiang cut the use of feed-grade fish by 835,000 tonnes across 710,000 mu (474 square kilometres) of aquaculture farms during the 13th FYP period (2016-2020). “Previously, feed-grade fish were the primary feed for largemouth bass in Zhejiang. These last two years that’s almost all been replaced with compound feed.” The FIFO ratio for farmed largemouth bass in Zhejiang could come down to 1.5, half the national average for this species, according to 2016 calculations Zhang Wenbo contributed to.

But cutting back on feed-grade fish use in China won’t be easy. Fishers catch a wide range of fish with a wide range of gear. At the local level there is a lack of fisher associations that can impose rules on the sector, making management tricky. Zhejiang’s success can be ascribed to strong local regulations. “There are no successful [international] examples that China can apply,” said Fang Qing. Alongside legislation to bolster oversight of the feed-grade fish catch, he also suggests developing feeds which will be more palatable to fish, and labelling products according to their use of feed-grade fish or compound feed, so consumers can make an informed choice.

Increasing the efficiency of fish inputs

The use of compound feed isn’t the end of the story. At least for now, fishmeal and fish oil are essential ingredients in those feeds. And while the global supply of fishmeal and fish oil has fallen from its peak in 2000 to a fairly stable level, the demand for aquaculture feeds has been increasing. That requires the development of feeds containing less meal and oil.

Plans announced by Norway to boost salmon farming have led to concerns about the supply of fishmeal and fish oil as well as vegetable ingredients. The country has started researching the use of mesopelagic fish (which inhabit the middle depths of the ocean), algae and farmed insects to meet that need and make feed more efficient. A more complete solution would be to develop entirely vegetarian feeds, with no fishmeal at all. However, as things stand that would only be suitable for a few species.

“Fishmeal is the most expensive of the ingredients found in bulk feeds. Reducing the amount in those feeds is the best way to make them cheaper,” Zhang Wenbo points out. A tonne of fishmeal costs around 10,000 yuan (US$1,500), compared to 1,000–4,000 yuan for bran or soybean meal, he added. “Feed conversion ratios are also affected by the type of aquaculture, the make-up of the feed, and genetic selection – the breeding of strains more suited to compound feeds,” he said. This is more difficult in China, with its wide range of farmed species, than in Norway, where salmon dominates. But progress is still being made, and associated targets have been set in the 14th Five Year Plan (2021–25).

Increasing the efficiency of fishmeal and fish oil use in China will also ease global pressures on the supply and help protect juvenile fish. China is the world’s biggest consumer of fishmeal, with the largest part being used in aquaculture, and the second largest being fed to pigs. But the country only produces 400,000–700,000 tonnes of fishmeal a year – not even close to meeting domestic demand. Fishmeal imports have held steady since 2017, at about 1.4 million tonnes, but jumped to 1.82 million tonnes in 2021, with experts ascribing the change to the recovery in pig farming. The extra fishmeal came from the Americas and elsewhere in Asia.

Zhang Wenbo explains that China’s fishmeal and fish oil imports come from forage fish, caught specifically to be turned into fishmeal, and Peru is the main supplier. Relatively little of China’s fishmeal is made from feed-grade fish. “Imports of by-product processed fishmeal from Vietnam and Thailand have been increasing in recent years,” he said.

Minimizing the feed-grade fish catch

Cutting back on the use of feed-grade fish is good for the sustainable development of both wild fishing and aquaculture. It will also help protect already vulnerable ocean ecosystems. In 1959, fishing vessels in China’s Bohai Sea caught 420 kg of fish per net for every hour they worked. By 1993, that had fallen to 30 kg, and only 8 kg between 1998 and 2011. The above-mentioned research into China’s feed-grade fish catch found that a long-term stable total catch has masked trends including falling biomass and changes in end use.

The losses to biodiversity and ecological services cannot be measured in financial terms, and the fishing industry needs more than simply output. Wang Songlin, president and founder of the Qingdao Marine Conservation Society, believes the industry needs to work towards a balance of ecological, economic and social benefits. He told China Dialogue that even if total catch may still be the same by volume, the underlying destruction to the integrity of ecosystems and the environment should not be ignored.

Management of the sector in China has acquired a new ecological focus. Alongside the use of compound feeds, some provinces are providing fishery stewardship subsidies for the protection of rare and endangered species and for keeping down feed-grade fish catch volumes.

Protecting juvenile fish isn’t just a matter for China – it’s crucial for ocean ecosystems around the world. Rashid Sumalia said: “If you look at the economies and the ecology at the higher level, you don’t want to [catch feed-grade fish] because the losses are too high” to be sustainable. Sumalia acknowledges that many people rely on that fishing for their livelihoods but says: “We need to take it down as far as we can.”

Zhang Chun is a senior researcher at China Dialogue. This article appears courtesy of China Dialogue Ocean and may be found in its original form here

The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.

Why is omega-6 (vegetable) fat added to salmon fees in salmon farms?

Additives are frequently included to enhance feed quality, palatability, and nutritional value.

Key common additives in salmon feed include pigments, vitamins, minerals, probiotics, and preservatives.

What are some of the additives that are added to salmon feeds in salmon farms?

Pigments, such as astaxanthin, are added to salmon feed to enhance the characteristic pink-orange coloration of salmon flesh, which is otherwise pale in farmed fish.

Title:

Content: Benefits of Aquarium Fish Feeding Feed
Time ： 2021-09-01 18: 40 Author ： admin
See the fish.
We may think that live bait is the most natural way to raise fish, this statement is not wrong, but one thing worth our attention: that is, the safety of live bait, live bait may be infected by water or it is itself wearing pathogenic bacteria or parasites that can cause fish to be sick, and at the same time, live bait is probably the main culprit of infecting the water quality of the aquarium.
There are many uses for human feed, such as:
1. Particle size may be used in response to the needs of a variety of large and small mouth types of fish.
2. No susceptible water quality.
3. The nutrient quality of this material is not easy to pass.
4.
Vitamins are not easily damaged.
5. Fully sterile.
6. Retain the daily grind.
7. It can promote the beauty of the body color of fish.
8.
It is best to keep the fish in shape.
No matter whether it is live bait or artificial feed for fish, we must truly understand the identity of food to match the needs of fish without common.
The most important means is to provide a balanced supply of nutrients so that the fish can only grow robustly.
Therefore, we propose that: feeding only one kind of bait is very easy to form fish nutrients are not good; feeding a variety of fish will eat bait talent to avoid the situation of nutrient imbalance.
Therefore, artificial feed with multiple nutrient identities will be a good use.
But the nature of each family is not one, so first determine whether the identity of the fish is compatible with the identity of the fish, and only need to buy from the new!
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What are some of the additives that are added to salmon feeds in salmon farms?

What are the purposes of adding pigments to the feed in salmon farms?

Vitamins and minerals ensure nutritional adequacy, supporting health and growth.

Probiotics and prebiotics can be incorporated to improve gut health, immunity, and disease resistance.

Title:

Content: Yogurt is amazing! Feeding Wu Guo to eat for 2 months, the fisherman smiles and wears a helmet: anti-collision
▲ The water laboratory said that in recent years, due to climate change, the unusually high temperature in the summer, it is easy to cause the fish to be attacked by germs. (Photo by reporter Yang Chih-hing)
Journalist Hsu Chien-yi / reporting from Taipei
In recent years, the unusually high temperature in summer has led to the outbreak of germs, which has caused great losses to farmers. The probiotic Lactic Acid Bacillus B4, which helps to improve fish growth and enhance their immunity, and its glucan product Lactic Acid Bacillus B4 functional yogurt was added to the feed. Farming time to reduce the risk of breeding.
The water laboratory pointed out that glucan can be used as an emulsifier and thickener flavor carrier in food processing. In terms of health care, research shows that glucan can be used as a prebiotic to increase the number of probiotics - bifidobacteria and lactic acid bacteria in the body, and regulate immunity.
As mentioned in the water test, lactic acid bacteria B4, previously screened from the gut of perch fish, is a probiotic with special enzymes. Adding cheap sucrose can promote the production of glucan by lactic acid bacteria B4, and developed functional yogurt and ice cream containing glucan with lactic acid bacteria B4.
[Advertisement] Please continue reading...
According to the water test, the literature points out that probiotics or prebiotics such as glycans and oligosaccharides as feed additives can effectively improve the growth and immunity of fish and shrimp. The combined use of probiotics and prebiotics is usually higher than the combined effect of the two alone. Probiotics that produce pathogens can also produce glucans themselves, so the lactobacillus B4 yogurt is applied to aquaculture.
Experimental studies show that the addition of lactic acid bacteria B4 yogurt in the feed helps to improve the growth and resistance to pathogens.
▲ The feed in the test tank is evenly mixed with lactic acid bacteria B4 yogurt and the feed by an electric mixer.
(Photo / Supplied by Aquatic Research Institute)
In recent years, due to climate change, the unusually high temperature in summer can easily lead to the outbreak of germs, causing the death of fish and loss of farmers. Three years ago, the Kaohsiung City Animal Protection Department sought technical assistance from the water laboratory. 4 Yogurt feed for 2 months, fish feeding conditions are better than the control pond, growth is very fast, at the end of May harvest, no disease, fish average weight 570 grams, strong and healthy.
When the fish are harvested, the fisherman must wear a safety helmet to avoid being injured by the energetic Wu Kuo. The fish in the control pond eat worse than the test pond and grow more slowly. In mid-June, the fish suffered from streptococcus disease. It must be treated with drugs. The average weight is 467 grams, which is much lower than the average. Test pool.
The water laboratory further stressed that in order to understand whether the feed containing lactic acid bacteria B4 yogurt can really survive the cool summer, and the Kaohsiung Municipal Bureau of Animal Protection specially arranged the test in the summer the previous year. The results showed that although the test group and the control group of the fish containing lactic acid bacteria B4 yogurt were all suffering from streptococcal disease, the test group were milder drug. The treatment only takes 3 days to heal, and the control group is more serious, requiring more than 7 days of drug treatment.
Therefore, the addition of lactic acid bacteria B4 yogurt in broccoli feed helps to improve the growth and health of the fish, shortens the breeding time, reduces the breeding risk and slows the severity of the disease, and the cost of adding lactic acid bacteria B4 yogurt per kilogram of feed is only about 0.5 yuan.
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Preservatives help maintain feed stability during storage.

Title:

Content: Preparing for the New Year: how to choose caviar, sausages, cakes, tangerines and other products
6 minutes
400
Products for the New Year's table should be chosen with special care, so as not to spoil the holiday neither to yourself nor to your loved ones.
Choosing caviar, sausages, cakes, tangerines, canned food, you should be guided by certain rules.
For example, caviar should not contain a preservative called urotropin, and the shelf life of baking with cream should not exceed 72 hours.
Holiday purchases are best done in specialized stores, not in the markets, and do not chase the cheapness.
Such advice in the exclusive blicinterview OBOZREVATEL voiced the Chairman of the Board of the Association "Consumer Trust" Elena Kulikova.
Then we give her a direct speech.
General recommendations: look at the packaging and shelf life
The label should contain as much information as possible.
I mean food additives, preservatives, thickeners and so on.
The more words we understand, the better.
Once we see a large number of "E" or incomprehensible words, it is better to look for an alternative to such a product.
Video of the day
And most importantly – pay attention to the expiration date.
Any products I encourage to buy in specialized stores, especially in supermarkets, because they are responsible for the quality and safety of the products they sell.
As few unauthorized markets as possible.
Choose sausage: buy the highest grade and immediately put in the refrigerator
If we are talking about smoked sausages, then they can be bought a little earlier and lie down until the New Year.
But they have to be stored in a certain way.
It is believed that raw smoked sausages can be wrapped in parchment and stored in a dry place at room temperature.
But that's not true.
All sausages should be stored in the refrigerator at a temperature of + 6 degrees.
I recommend buying premium sausages, since in this case, more stringent requirements are imposed on the manufacturer.
The only recommended preservative for sausages is a color stabilizer - sodium nitride.
It is always present in all meat products.
This is a given, we are not going anywhere from this.
Then the taste enhancers begin, all kinds of phosphates, something else.
It's not good to eat.
The use of such products is better reduced.
We buy cakes and pastries just before the New Year.
If we are talking about cakes, cakes with cream, then they have a short shelf life - up to 3 days.
If the shelf life of the cake is 1 – 1.5 weeks, we understand that it contains a large number of preservatives.
Therefore, it is better to refuse them.
I recommend buying immediately before the holiday, so as not to spoil it neither to yourself nor to your loved ones.
It is necessary to pay attention to the temperature regime in which this cake is stored in the store.
It should be a refrigerator with a temperature not higher than + 6 degrees.
And look at the expiration date.
If we buy sweets, cookies, which are in vacuum packages, packaged, then pay attention to the integrity of the package and shelf life.
We buy champagne with a marking in Ukrainian
Any alcohol also has a certain shelf life, but still, if you have a bottle of something in the bins, champagne, liquor or something else and we see on the label that the period has already expired, the good news is that do not rush to throw this product away, you still do not poison it, only if it is not a fake.
As for champagne, unfortunately, there is a lot of information that our domestic pseudo-producers produce a lot of sparkling wines, which, in fact, are fake imported wines.
Be sure to check the presence of an excise label, the availability of information about the manufacturer, the distributor, if it is imported products, what kind of alcohol, the amount of sugar, the percentage of alcohol.
If all the necessary information about the drink is available, and it is in Ukrainian, this gives us reason to believe that this is an official, not a smuggled product, and it can be safely used.
If there is no marking in the state language, then such alcohol should be abandoned.
Because there is a high probability that it is counterfeit, contraband or outright fake.
It is especially important to pay attention to imported drinks.
Choosing canned food: deformed cans do not take
Green peas, corn and other canned food.
Here are the same standard recommendations.
Always look at the shelf life, the integrity of the package, so that the jars are not swollen.
If the inner surface of the coating, which ensures the safety of the product, is damaged, mold and anything can develop there.
Therefore, it is better not to buy deformed banks.
Canned food is also desirable to buy in specialized stores.
Tangerines should smell good and be stain-free
Tangerines are the easiest.
Enough visual inspection.
They should smell good, in any case not be moldy, with black dots and so on.
Before use, they must be washed.
Despite the fact that we still remove the skin, unfortunately, all fruits of long-term storage, including tangerines, are always treated with chemicals from spoilage, insects and bugs.
Choose red caviar: no urotropin and cheap
Recently, we conducted a study, took 12 samples of red caviar.
8 samples in supermarkets, 2 samples on the market and 2 samples purchased in online stores.
The most correct, real, natural product is the one in which there are only two components: caviar and salt.
But unfortunately, in recent years, we have almost no such caviar on the shelves.
Perhaps it can be bought in bulk in specialized stores.
But in the jars there is always a preservative - sorbic acid.
It is acceptable by standard.
But there is another unpleasant surprise – we found such a preservative as urotropin in all manufacturers.
In Ukraine, it is not prohibited, it is allowed to use it in small quantities.
All within normal limits.
But in the EU, this preservative is banned.
There are studies that confirm the negative effects of this preservative.
In the process of fermentation, the decomposition of this substance occurs, as a result, harmful substances are formed, which are carcinogens.
My recommendations: if we buy caviar, the first thing we pay attention to is as few preservatives as possible, it is advisable to choose caviar on which the manufacturer does not indicate the presence of urotropin.
We also pay attention to the expiration date.
We understand that salmon spawning occurs from July to September, and if the jar has a production date within this period, we understand that we have fresh caviar.
It is not scary even if it is written that it is made from frozen raw materials, because there are a lot of enterprises that catch fish and immediately freeze it, and then make caviar from it.
When buying caviar, we focus on the price.
We are not chasing cheapness.
We must understand that fish caviar, which is grown artificially, for example, trout, will be cheaper, on average 1400 hryvnia per kilogram.
If it is a wild fish, for example, pink salmon, then a kilogram of caviar can cost about 2000 hryvnia per kilogram.
Sockeye is a more expensive fish, there the price is about 2500 hryvnia.
If the caviar is within these limits, then, by and large, this is normal.
Very cheap is not worth buying.

Uncommon or controversial additives include fishmeal and fish oil derived from "feed-grade" fish, which are small, low-value, or juvenile fish not suitable for human consumption.

The use of feed-grade fish in aquaculture feed has been associated with ecological concerns, as it often involves harvesting juvenile fish critical to wild populations and ocean ecosystems.

To mitigate this, some countries are promoting compound feeds that reduce reliance on feed-grade fish by substituting plant proteins such as soy, wheat gluten, and corn gluten meal.

Reducing fishmeal and fish oil usage in feeds also aligns with sustainability efforts.

A notable controversial preservative is the antioxidant ethoxyquin, historically used to prevent spoilage in feed ingredients but scrutinized for potential health risks.

Antibiotics have also been used in salmon farming feed for disease prevention and treatment, raising concerns about antibiotic residues in food and the development of antimicrobial resistance.

Title:

Content: What Is A Salmon Sperm Facial? The Dark Side To The Beauty Trend

People are having DNA derived from salmon sperm injected into their faces to make them look younger

By

5 Minutes Read

Salmon sperm facials made the news last year after Jennifer Aniston told the Wall Street Journal she had tried one. Now the anti-ageing treatment is tipped to become a big beauty trend of 2024.

Injecting sperm into your face sounds gross – though it isn’t actually sperm that’s used. But the bigger problem is the industry behind the trend: salmon farming and fishing.

Here we delve into the dark side of the salmon sperm facial and the problem with using animal products in cosmetics.

What is a salmon sperm facial?

The “sperm” in the facials is actually DNA derived from the sperm of salmon. It’s technical name is Polydeoxyribonucleotide, or PDRN, which is how the ingredient may be labelled on cosmetics products. PDRN refers to several bioactive molecules derived from purified and sterilized DNA taken from salmon sperm.

A treatment involves having PDRN injected into your face using a small needle. It is supposed to stimulate collagen production and help cell renewal. Several sessions are recommended across several months to see results. PDRN is also found in some luxury skincare products like lotions and supplements. The fad originated in South Korea, the home of skincare regimes that have become a global phenomenon known as K-beauty.

There is some research showing that PDRN can help wounds to heal, discovered through animal experimentation. But there have been few human trials to test it’s efficacy for cosmetic or medical purposes.

Where does the sperm come from?

According to Metro, the salmon-derived ingredient in the treatment is a by-product of seafood production. “[R]ather than it being tossed away when wild Alaskan salmon is prepared, instead the beauty industry snaps it up.”

It’s not clear whether the PDRN used by beauty companies comes exclusively from wild Alaskan salmon, or whether some is obtained from farmed salmon. Either way, both industries are deeply problematic, and the use of their by-products by the beauty industry is not as harmless as it sounds.

Taking fishes from the wild

Populations of wild Atlantic Salmon are declining globally, with some communities in crisis. For example, in UK rivers – a breeding ground for the species – populations hit a record low in 2022.

This is despite efforts to conserve Atlantic salmon numbers through fishing exclusion zones being established since the 1980s. The global decline is likely due to illegal and unregulated fishing activity, according to one study. Dammed rivers, warming waters due to the climate crisis, and sea lice proliferating at salmon farms attaching to wild fishes may also impacting the health of wild salmon populations.

Salmon farming

Farming salmon is supposed to help alleviate pressure on wild populations. Most of the salmon sold in supermarkets in the UK come from Scottish farms. Indeed, globally more fishes killed for food now come from farms than from the wild. This makes it seem more likely that the PDRN in cosmetics is currently, or will in future be, derived from farmed salmon (though we don’t know its origins for sure).

Salmon farming has many negative impacts on the fishes and the marine environment. Undercover investigations have shown how farmed salmon suffer from predation, sea lice infestations, and disease outbreaks. Mortality rates on farms have also been rising due to warming waters – a problem only set to get worse in future.

The sea lice infestations on farms are bleeding into wild salmon who swim past the pens of their captive kin. In Scotland, there are plans to establish protection zones for wild salmon to keep them safe from the sea lice outbreaks on farms.

Pollution including waste and pesticides from farms has been rising and wreaking havoc on surrounding ecosystems.

By-products aren’t harmless

Using by-products from the meat, fishing, and farmed fish industries – known as rendering – does not simply reduce waste from those industries. It financially supports them by adding value to their products.

Slaughtering animals for food produces a lot of waste, such as blood, bones, skin or scales, hoofs, intestines, and fish swim bladders. Treating and disposing of it in an environmentally safe way is expensive, which is why animal industries would rather sell it. Development in technology are increasingly enabling them to extract materials from waste and monetize it.

The value that rendering adds to animal industries can lead to the products derived from waste becoming a driver of destructive practices.

For example, bovine collagen, used like PDNR as an anti-ageing treatment, has become extremely popular. In 2023, an investigation by several news organizations uncovered links between collagen supply chains and Amazon deforestation. The booming collagen industry means that, along with leather, collagen makes up an increasing portion of the profit made from cows raised in the Amazon who are killed for beef.

Marine collagen, derived from the skin of fishes, is also becoming popular. It could potentially provide a new revenue stream for seafood companies. Collagen, salmon sperm, and other fish waste products that can be rendered could thus become more of a reason in themselves for slaughtering fishes.

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What health concerns are there specifically related to additives in farmed salmon feed?

Health concerns linked to farmed salmon feed additives focus mostly on the accumulation of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as PCBs and dioxins, which can bioaccumulate through fishmeal and fish oil.

Title:

Content: Miscellaneous
Publish Date: December 13, 2021 8: 47 GMT
Updated on: December 13, 2021 9: 40 GMT
Study: Eating Too Much ‘ Farm Salmon ’ May Cause Cancer
A medical study published on Monday warned that overeating salmon raised in farm ponds could lead to cancer.
The Daily Newspaper noted.
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Source: Erm News
A medical study published on Monday warned that overeating salmon raised in farm ponds could lead to cancer.
The Daily Express newspaper pointed out that "some previous studies found that salmon, jam in ponds, which is widely consumed around the world, doubles the risk of prostate cancer," pointing out that "salmon is a useful food source for health because it contains omega-3 fatty acids."
"While one salmon is caught in open water, like the seas, the other is bred in tight spaces (farms and ponds), which could have implications for human health," the paper said.
Studies have found that PCBs in farm-raised salmon were about 8 times higher than concentrations in wild salmon, adding that PCBs have been banned for commercial use for decades, but their effects can still be found in the environment, which may adversely affect human diet and therefore health.
According to a study by the Environmental Defense Fund, eating salmon raised in farm ponds on a regular basis may increase the risk of cancer after multiple cases of contamination have been detected in the United States and other countries.
"Medical scientific findings, published in the Journal of Medical Sciences, suggest that cheap farmed salmon sold in stores may do more harm than good."
“Risk analysis suggests that consumption of farmed Atlantic salmon may pose health risks that detract from the beneficial effects of fish consumption, ” the study said.
Eating farmed salmon more than once a month may be enough to increase the risk of cancer.
"In multivariate analyses, men with the highest concentrations of PCBs were twice as likely to develop prostate cancer than men with the lowest concentrations."
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What health concerns are there specifically related to additives in farmed salmon feed?