Farm Raised Fish & Meat: Why We Avoid Factory-Farmed Animal Foods

QUICK SUMMARY

When we talk about the risks of farm-raised fish, the biggest issue is not whether the finished fillet contains some beneficial nutrients. The bigger questions are: What was that fish fed? And how was it treated?

Commercial aquaculture relies on formulated factory feed rather than the fresh, natural diet fish would eat in the wild. Modern salmon feed can contain large amounts of plant protein, vegetable oils, grains, fish meal, fish oil, vitamins, minerals, and other processed ingredients. Research shows that changing the feed changes the fatty-acid and nutrient profile of the fish itself. (3, 4)

That is why our family prioritizes wild-caught fish and pasture-raised, grass-fed, and responsibly sourced animal foods whenever possible. The principle is simple: we eat what they ate.

There's a good reason that factory farm raised meat has gotten a bad reputation lately. Any living creature taken out of their God-ordained natural environment and raised on an unnatural factory diet is something we believe deserves serious caution, and this includes beef, pork, poultry, eggs, and fish.

It all begins with how the animals are fed.

That is the heart of this article. We can spend all day comparing grams of protein, vitamins, minerals, and omega-3s in the final product, but nutritional benefits aside, I want to know what went into the animal I am feeding my family.

We are what they ate.

And factory farms are not feeding animals the fresh, organic foods they would naturally seek out in God's creation. An example of this is seafood.

Risks of Eating Farm Raised Fish

Farm raised fish are definitely not my idea of “health food.” The reason goes far beyond a nutrition label.

One of the studies that originally got my attention came from Wake Forest University researchers in 2008. Their analysis of commonly consumed farm-raised tilapia and catfish found that these fish were relatively low in the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA and contained substantially more omega-6 fatty acids than oily fish such as salmon. (1)

Compared with many other fish, two of the most popular fish on the market today, tilapia and catfish, can contain a much less favorable omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acid profile.

An older paper in Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy also called attention to the dramatic shift in the dietary balance of omega-6 and omega-3 fats in modern Western diets compared with estimated ancestral diets. (2)

There is ongoing scientific debate about whether one exact omega-6-to-omega-3 ratio should be treated as an ideal target. But that debate does not change the central point here: the feed an animal consumes changes the fats that ultimately accumulate in the food we eat.

We can see the same thing in salmon.

A detailed analysis of farmed and wild Atlantic salmon found that farmed salmon had considerably more total fat, a higher omega-6-to-omega-3 ratio, and a substantially lower proportion of the marine long-chain omega-3 fats EPA and DHA than wild salmon. (4)

A 2024 review of Atlantic salmon nutrition likewise documented that replacing fish oil with plant oils such as canola oil can significantly reduce EPA and DHA concentrations in salmon muscle. (5)

That is exactly why I keep coming back to the same principle: we eat what they ate.

This does not mean a farmed salmon fillet contains zero omega-3s or zero nutritional value. That misses the point. My concern is the industrial system used to produce the fish and the factory feed used to grow it.

That is why we recommend wild-caught fish whenever possible, even when farm-raised fish looks good on a conventional nutrition facts panel. Learn more about unhealthy farm raised fish tilapia vs salmon in our health report.

We EAT What They ATE

Because of the feed that is given to the animals, factory-farmed fish and meat deserve special scrutiny.

This is not theoretical.

Nofima, one of Norway's major food and aquaculture research institutes, published an updated explainer in 2026 describing what Norwegian farmed salmon feed looked like in 2020. The feed consisted of approximately: (3)

• 41% plant protein, such as soy protein concentrate
• 20% vegetable oils, such as rapeseed oil
• 13% carbohydrate sources, such as wheat
• 12% marine protein, such as fish meal
• 10% marine oils, such as fish oil
• 4% micro-ingredients, including vitamins, minerals, and amino acids

Nofima also explains that this powdered feed mixture is heated, moistened, cooked, kneaded, extruded, dried into pellets, and then coated with oil. (3)

That is factory feed.

It is not a salmon swimming through cold water eating the marine foods it was designed to eat. It is an industrially formulated pellet created to provide enough nutrients, energy, structural stability, and growth performance for commercial aquaculture.

And the change has been dramatic. Nofima reports that fish meal in Norwegian salmon feed fell from about 65% in 1990 to about 12% in 2020, with much of it replaced by plant proteins. (3)

This is not unique to salmon.

Commercial aquaculture research continues to study replacing fish meal and fish oil with soy products, vegetable oils, poultry by-product meal, meat meal, feather meal hydrolysate, and other alternative feed materials. For example, a 2024 rainbow-trout trial evaluated a diet using poultry by-product meal and feather meal hydrolysate as replacements for fish meal. (6) A separate 2024 study evaluated replacing fish meal and fish oil with poultry by-product meal and mixed oils. (7)

To be clear, this does not mean every farmed fish is fed every ingredient on that list. Feed varies by species, country, producer, life stage, ingredient availability, and economics.

But it absolutely establishes the main point of this article: factory-farmed fish are routinely raised on formulated feeds that can be very different from what those fish would naturally eat in the wild.

And the feed matters.

Research consistently shows that altering the oils and proteins in aquaculture feed can alter fatty-acid composition, nutrient concentrations, metabolism, and other characteristics in the fish that eventually ends up on our plate. (4, 5, 8)

What About PCBs, Dioxins & Other Contaminants?

This is another area where the feed story matters.

Older research found higher concentrations of some persistent organic pollutants, including PCBs and dioxins, in certain farmed salmon compared with wild salmon. Fish meal and fish oil were important sources of some of those contaminants. (4)

The aquaculture industry has changed feed formulations over time, and modern farmed salmon can contain substantially lower levels of several persistent contaminants than farmed salmon did decades ago. That is good news and should be reported accurately.

But notice what happened.

As marine ingredients were reduced, plant ingredients increased. The contaminant profile changed, but so did the nutritional profile. The same 2020 analysis that documented lower contaminant concerns in newer farmed salmon also found that farmed salmon had about three times the total fat of the wild salmon studied, a much higher omega-6-to-omega-3 ratio, and a lower proportion of EPA and DHA. (4)

A 2025 study following Norwegian farmed salmon and feed from 2006 through 2021 likewise reported that changes in feed were reflected in the nutrient and contaminant profile of the fillet. (8)

Again: we eat what they ate.

That principle is more scientifically defensible today than the simplistic idea that every farmed fish has the exact same contaminant burden it did twenty years ago.

The feed changes. The fish changes.

And that is precisely why our family chooses wild-caught seafood whenever we reasonably can.

We see the same basic issue in factory-raised beef, pork, poultry, and eggs.

Is All Farm Raised Meat Bad?

Of course all meat isn't bad. Red meat and poultry are filled with several vitamins and minerals that promote well-rounded health benefits, including: (9)

1. B vitamins, especially vitamin B12
2. Vitamin D
3. Iron
4. Selenium
5. Zinc

But again, nutrient content is not the whole story.

When we buy animal foods, we want to know how that animal lived and what that animal ate.

Research on beef supports this basic principle. Feeding systems affect the fatty-acid and antioxidant composition of meat, and grass-based diets tend to produce a different fatty-acid profile than grain-finished systems. (10)

This is why we prioritize grass-fed and pasture-raised meat from producers we trust.

The USDA “organic” label can also be useful when you are shopping for livestock and poultry products. Current USDA organic standards require livestock agricultural feed to be 100% organic, require outdoor access, and require ruminants to receive at least 30% of their dry-matter intake from pasture during a grazing season of at least 120 days. (11)

That does not automatically mean every organic farm matches our ideal of regenerative, pasture-based animal husbandry. Organic is a starting point, not the finish line.

Whenever possible, know your farmer. Ask what the animals eat. Ask whether cattle are grass-fed and grass-finished. Ask whether chickens actually spend meaningful time on pasture. Ask what supplemental feed is used.

Look for a trusted meat supplier to avoid factory raised meats!

Farm Raised vs Pasture Raised Eggs

If the chickens producing the eggs have been given nutritious feed, are allowed to roam outdoors around the farm, forage, scratch, peck, and behave like chickens, then that is a completely different food-production model from a bird spending its life in intensive confinement.

And once again, what the hens eat can show up in the eggs.

A 2022 study comparing eggs from pasture-raised hens found that the pasture systems produced eggs with substantially more omega-3 fatty acids and carotenoids and a more favorable omega-6-to-omega-3 profile than eggs from hens without the same pasture intake. (12)

A 2025 study looking at seasonal pasture access similarly found that access to fresh forage influenced egg fatty-acid composition and antioxidant characteristics. (13)

This is why labels alone never tell the whole story.

“Cage-free” simply means hens are not kept in conventional cages. “Free-range” can still describe systems where actual outdoor exposure is limited. “Pasture-raised” is the direction we prefer because it better reflects the way chickens naturally live and forage, although the exact standards can vary unless a third-party certification defines them.

If you can buy eggs from a local farmer whose chickens you can actually see roaming outside, even better.

The original version of this article included a quotation claiming that fear and stress immediately before slaughter cause specific diseases such as cardiac problems and impotency in the people who later eat the meat. I cannot verify good scientific evidence for that specific claim, so I am not going to repeat it as fact.

What we can say is simpler and stronger: animal welfare matters, husbandry matters, diet matters, and the way we raise animals affects the food system we ultimately participate in.

Is Vegetarian my Only Option?

There are several answers to this question.

First, everyone is different and, historically speaking, humans have eaten animal foods for millennia. At the same time, many traditional diets were heavily built around plant foods. Fruits, vegetables, herbs, legumes, nuts, seeds, and appropriately prepared whole grains provide a wide variety of foods rich in bioactive compounds.

There are conflicting data and strong opinions surrounding meat consumption and vegetarian diets. The most logical advice is to take a common-sense approach: avoid toxins as much as possible, choose real food, pay attention to sourcing, and do what is right for YOUR body and family.

Second, whether for health, ethical, environmental, or religious reasons, millions of people all across the globe choose to abstain from animal products to varying degrees. For many vegetarians and vegans, their eating habits are a way of life.

Third, the terms “vegetarian” and “vegan” mean different things to different people.

Oftentimes, people on the road to vegetarianism and veganism take this pathway:

• Flexitarians/Semi-Vegetarians – Flexitarians are those who “mostly” eat a vegetarian diet, but will sometimes eat a little bit of meat. People under this category, generally chosen for health reasons, are trying to find a balanced approach to nutrition and try to limit their animal product intake and focus on fruits, veggies and whole grains.
• Pescatarians – When people have limited their meat consumption and are on the road to vegetarianism and veganism, they tend to take it one step further and refrain from eating beef or chicken, but still eat fish. Usually, those who choose this option do so for health reasons and believe that fish is the healthier option over red meat or poultry.
• Lacto/Ovo-Vegetarians – The next step is when someone identifies themselves as vegetarians who refrain from all animal products, except for dairy and eggs. Basically, they eat foods that don’t require anything to be slaughtered. Lacto-vegetarians do not eat eggs, but eat dairy. Ovo-vegetarians do not eat dairy, but will consume eggs. These people are taking a big step toward choosing vegetarianism as a way of life.
• Vegans – One of the strictest varieties of vegetarians, vegans will not consume anything animal-derived. This, of course, includes all meat, dairy, and eggs. The term is used loosely, however, and some purists will refrain from even using wool and honey because of the potential threat that a living being could be harmed in the harvesting or manufacturing process.
• Raw Vegans – An even stricter variety of veganism, raw vegans generally avoid food heated above approximately 115 degrees Fahrenheit.

There are options for each person depending on what is healthiest for them personally.

For us, vegetarianism is not the only answer.

Better sourcing is.

We want wild fish eating what wild fish were designed to eat. We want cattle on pasture. We want chickens scratching and foraging outdoors. We want to know what went into the animals that become food for our family.

When you remember that we eat what they ate, the grocery store becomes much easier to navigate.

Farm Raised Food FAQs

Why do you avoid farm-raised fish?

We avoid conventionally farm-raised fish primarily because of the production system and the factory feed. Commercial aquaculture diets can rely heavily on processed plant proteins, vegetable oils, grains, fish meal, fish oil, and other formulated ingredients rather than the fish's natural wild diet. Research shows that feed composition influences the fatty-acid and nutrient profile of the fish. (3, 4, 5)

Is wild-caught fish always better than farm-raised fish?

Our general recommendation is to prioritize responsibly sourced wild-caught fish because the animal is living and feeding in its natural environment. Wild fish can still have contaminant concerns depending on species and location, so sourcing matters there too. The point is not that the word “wild” magically guarantees perfection. The point is to get as close as reasonably possible to the animal's God-designed environment and natural diet.

Does farm-raised salmon still contain omega-3 fatty acids?

Yes. Farm-raised salmon can still provide EPA and DHA. Our concern is not that it has no nutritional value. Our concern is that modern factory feed changes the fish. Research comparing farmed and wild salmon has found important differences in total fat, omega-6-to-omega-3 balance, and the proportion of marine EPA and DHA. (4)

What should I look for when buying meat and eggs?

Look beyond the front of the package. Prioritize pasture-raised eggs, grass-fed and grass-finished beef, responsibly raised poultry, USDA organic when it helps verify feed and production practices, and farmers or suppliers who will actually tell you what their animals eat. The feed is part of the food.