Are the levels of hormones and antibiotics higher in farmed or wild salmon?
It depends on the source of the fish, but generally farmed salmon are more likely to have residual traces of antibiotics than wild salmon would be since antibiotics are frequently administered to the farmed fish via their feed. Canada requires a withdrawal period from antibiotics prior to harvesting but not all fish sold in Canada is raised here. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has issued numerous import alerts for farmed salmon imported from Chile – the most recent being in March, 2008 for farmed salmon containing “Amphenicols”, a class of antibiotics. CIFA issued several alerts in 2007 for Chilean salmon containing the pesticide Emamectin and/or Ivermectin. Learn More: Les Burridge, Judith Weis, Felipe Cabello, and Jaime Pizarro (November 2007). Chemical Use in Salmon Aquaculture: A Review of Current Practices and Possible Environmental Effects. Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue Technical Report, World Wildlife Federation. (pdf) I’ve heard farmed salmon is naturally a grey color
