Some varieties of farmed smoked salmon has 14g of fat per 100g Whereas a typical margherita pizza has 7.4g of fat per 100g Farmed fish grow fat because they’re reared in confined space Experts have called the farmed variety the ‘coach potato’ of the fish world
A portion of smoked salmon contains more fat than a slice of pizza, an investigation has revealed.
Despite being considered a healthy product, farmed fish bought from supermarkets was found to contain up to twice as much fat per 100g than a margherita pizza.
In Sainsbury’s, for example, Scottish Oak Smoked Salmon from its Taste the Difference range had 14g of fat per 100g. The same proportion in a Pizza Express margherita pizza is 7.4g.
Although higher in fat, salmon contains healthy omega 3 fatty acids and monosaturated fat linked to health benefits – rather than the more harmful saturated fat found in pizza. However, experts yesterday said it was a nonsense to describe farmed salmon as a ‘lean and healthy food’.
The product is particularly high in fat because fish stocks have usually been reared in small confined areas where they cannot swim freely and put on weight. Wild smoked salmon – which have naturally swum hundreds of miles through migration to spawning grounds – contain a third of the fat per 100g.
Don Staniford, director of the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture, said the two types of smoked salmon – wild and farmed – were virtually two different foods. ‘The farmed salmon is a couch potato compared to the majestic and iconic wild salmon,’ he told the Sunday Times. ‘It is complete nonsense to describe this flabby farmed fish as lean and healthy.’
Sainsbury’s wild Alaskan smoked salmon contains just 3.2g of fat per 100g. A 120g pack of the wild fish costs £5.75, while the farmed variety costs £4.50.
Tesco’s farmed Scottish smoked salmon contains 9.9g of fat per 100g but its wild Alaskan sourced product is two thirds lower at 3.3g. While it may contain more fat than pizza, the farmed fish contains omega 3 fatty acids and monosaturated fat – which has been shown to cut cholesterol, lower the risk of heart disease and strokes, help weight loss and even prevent breast cancer.
They are also found in olive oil and vegetables and may partly explain why the Mediterranean diet has so many health benefits.
Omega 3 fatty acids – present in all oily fish – also protect against heart disease and strokes and may also boost brain function and prevent cancer.
The saturated fat in pizza raises cholesterol and increases the risk of heart disease and strokes.
Sainsbury’s said it clearly labels smoked salmon as either wild or farmed because they are treated as two different kinds of fish, so ‘looking at the fat content between the two is not comparing like for like’. Waitrose has apologised for describing a £4.99 farmed salmon product created by TV chef Heston Blumenthal as ‘lean’ when it has 10.5g of fat per 100g.
The packaging for the lapsang souchong tea-smoked product claims strong currents in the ‘fast flowing deep tidal waters around Scotland’ produce healthy fish.
A spokesman said: ‘We are very sorry for this oversight, which we are correcting immediately.’
