The risks and benefits of consumption of farmed fish

Publisher Summary Fish has long been considered excellent food. There are clear benefits, but there are also some problems partly different from other food items. This chapter provides the information on the benefits and risks of consuming farmed fish. Most of the benefits and risks are not restricted to fish, but often they are more prominent in fish than meat or dairy products. Fish and other seafood contain relatively high levels of many different nutrients and based on an assessment of nutritional factors, they are good sources of protein, fat, especially the long, polyunsaturated marine n-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, vitamin B12, selenium, and iodine. Much of the information benefits of fish consumption are based on epidemiological studies or clinical trials. Epidemiological studies can be based on exposure, a typical such arrangement is a cohort study. Different health indicators are determined over a defined period and correlated with the exposure. Risk factors can be derived from the data for the exposed group as compared with the non-exposed or less exposed group. Farmed fish has every possibility of achieving at least as good a quality as wild fish. Farmed fish is controlled in regard to both quality and safety to ensure the consumer safe and healthy food.