Farmed salmon fed poultry byproducts spark labelling and welfare debate
European salmon farmers are turning to poultry byproducts in feed, prompting debate over labelling, safety and animal welfare.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
Farmed salmon in Europe could increasingly be fed on poultry byproducts, after a report said some of the continent's biggest fish farmers are turning to poultry byproducts to cut costs. According to the Financial Times, two seafood suppliers have already started using poultry byproducts in salmon feed and two more are preparing to follow. The shift has been prompted by fish meal prices almost doubling in the past two years and by rising demand for affordable protein during the cost of living crisis.
Industrial salmon farmers say poultry byproducts are a cheaper alternative to the fish and vegetable based diet they normally use. The practice is not new everywhere: intensive farmers in Chile and Canada have fed salmon chicken byproducts for years. A blanket ban on using livestock products as fish feed in Britain over fears of mad cow disease was dropped in 2013. The report said chickens do not carry the bovine prions linked to those diseases, so the feed is safe in that respect. The main issue, it added, is communication and retailer concern. Retailers have been reluctant to accept salmon that has been fed chicken byproducts, but the report said that is about to change.
The law does not require retailers to label fish that have been fed poultry byproducts. That means consumers may not know what is on their plate. Major supermarkets were asked whether their fish came from salmon fed chicken. Marks & Spencer said no, while Waitrose and Sainsbury's said no for their own label salmon but could not speak for third-party brands. Tesco said poultry byproducts provide an effective protein source which salmon require for optimal growth and welfare. Aldi, Asda and Lidl did not respond.
Animal welfare groups warned that a merger of two intensive industries could raise ethical problems. They said the chicken industry has high mortality, organ failure and mutilations, while salmon farming has high mortality, sea lice and disease. The result, they argued, is two troubled industries propping each other up.
The report also featured a debate between Leo Savry, operations director of the Leo Group, which supplies chicken derived feed to fish farms in Norway, Latin America, Asia and Africa, and Patrick Holden, an organic dairy farmer and founder of the Sustainable Food Trust. Savry said the industry was not feeding raw chicken to salmon but using a byproduct from a source humans choose to eat. He argued it was safe, scientifically proven, local and lower carbon than depleting oceans for fish meal. Holden said the idea was repulsive and came from an already abhorrent industrial poultry system. He said there is no future for open pen salmon farming and warned that adding chicken meal to salmon diets could be the end of farmed salmon.
Independent fishmongers in East London are hoping the yuck factor will drive customers their way. Whether cheaper supermarket prices and safety assurances will convince shoppers remains to be seen.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| Current law does not require retailers to label fish that have been fed poultry byproducts. | |
| M&S, Waitrose and Sainsbury's said their own-label salmon was not fed poultry byproducts, while Waitrose and Sainsbury's could not speak for third-party brands. | |
| Two seafood suppliers reportedly began using poultry byproducts in salmon feed, with two more preparing to do so, after fish meal prices almost doubled in two years. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
Channel 4 led on consumer transparency and the yuck factor, framing the shift as a hidden change to the food chain. It paired supermarket responses with a heated studio debate between an industry supplier and a sustainable farming campaigner. The tone was sceptical, giving significant space to animal welfare and labelling concerns.
- “You've heard of corn-fed chicken, but how about chicken-fed salmon?”
- “The law as it stands doesn't require retailers to label poultry fed fish so consumers are set to be left in the dark over what's on their plate.”
- “It's just got so much yuck factor.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.