Healthy, safe and trendy

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Healthy, safe and trendy
A presentation from www.laksefakta.no
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Contents

• 1. Health benefits
• 2. The medicine myth
• 3. Red colour
• 4. Control
• 5. Traceability

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1. Health benefits

• Food authorities world-wide recommend that
  people eat more seafood and especially oily fish
  such as salmon
• The positive health effect of eating salmon is
  mainly due to polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids
• Salmon is also a source of vitamin A and D,
  selenium and antioxidants

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Omega 3

• Favourable effect on cardio-vascular disease,
  
• blood circulation and inflammatory diseases
• Important for foetal and infant brain and eye
  development
• Omega 3 fatty acids may also have a favourable
  effect on depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimers
  disease and ADHD

Photo Norwegian Seafood Research Council /Lisa
Westgaard
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Fish rather than capsules

• Seafood, especially oily fish such as salmon, is
  our most important source of omega 3
• Recent research shows that our body absorbs
  omega 3 far more effectively from seafood than
  from capsules
• And not only that, salmon tastes much better
  than capsules!

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Eat twice as much fish!

• We should eat fish four times a week
• This is the conclusion in a new report from the
• Norwegian Science Committee for Food Safety, VKM
• VKM has compared the health advantages against
  the health risks of eating fish
• According to VKM, Norwegian seafood is good for
  your health and most people should double their
  intake of fish.

Norwegian Minister of Fisheries Helga Pedersen
eating salmon nuggets at the film premiere of En
glad laks
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2. The medicine myth

• Salmon is the healthiest farm animal in Norway
• Use of medicines has been reduced by 98 per cent
  since 1987 and up to today. At the same time,
  salmon and trout production has grown tenfold
• The industry has achieved this through having
  effective vaccines, improved production methods
  and preventive work

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Responsible use of medicines

• All medicines are prescribed by a veterinarian
  or a fish welfare biologist
• The fish are only given medicine if they are
  sick
• All fish treated with medicine are tested for
  remaining traces
• Since 1994, no harmful traces of medicine have
  been found in salmon on the market
• A tightly regulated system ensures that no fish
  containing high levels of medication come on the
  market

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3. Salmon colour

• Astaxanthin gives the salmon meat its
  characteristic colour
• Shellfish are a source of astaxanthin for wild
  fish, whereas farmed salmon get this from fish
  feed
• The pigment is exactly the same as in wild fish.
  It is produced in the same way as vitamins for
  humans
• Astaxanthin is also an essential nutrient. It
  helps absorption of A vitamins

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4. Control

• Salmon is safe, healthy and good food
• But all foods, including salmon, may contain
  undesirable substances. That is why it is
  important to have control.
• Fish farmers and feed producers have extensive
  internal control
• The Norwegian Food Safety Authority is
  responsible for monitoring all salmon and fish
  feed. This is done in collaboration with the
  Norwegian Institute for Seafood and Nutritional
  Research, NIFES

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Strictest in the world

• Each year, the authorities sample feed and live,
  fresh and processed fish
• Harvested salmon have been tested for foreign
  substances since 1998. No harmful level of
  undesirable foreign substance has ever been found
• The authorities take around 800 samples of feed
  each year. Feed producers also conduct own tests.
• No other country in the world has such an
  extensive control and research related to farmed
  salmon as Norway

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5. Salmon with a CV Traceability

• Traceability makes it possible to document the
  life of the fish from egg to the dinner table
• Among other things, you can trace the salmons
  provenance, what it has eaten and what it
  contains
• Many fish farmers already give their salmon such
  a CV
• Norwegian fish farmers and feed producers are
  one of the best in class globally with regard to
  traceability

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To everyones advantage

• Tracking and tracing are advantages to both the
  consumer and producer
• You can check what you are eating
• The fish farmer will be able to identify quickly
  and recall any fish that should not be on the
  market
• All links of the value chain, from feed producer
  to transport company, are made accountable

Photo Norwegian Seafood Export Council
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Did you know that..

• In 2005, Norway produced 588 000 tonnes of
  salmon
• Translated into dinners, this gives 1.4 billion
  skinned and boneless 250 g portions!
• Norway produces twice as much salmon as it does
  beef, poultry, mutton and pork put together
• Norwegian salmon is a popular raw material.
• In 2005, Norway exported salmon to 108
  countries world-wide.

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Did you know that..

• Norwegian consumers are eating an increasing
  amount of salmon and preferably as fillets
• In 2005, Norwegians ate 3 kg salmon (round
  weight) per capita, 11 per cent up on the
  previous year
• Single and urbane consumers eat the most salmon,
  whereas people in rural areas and large families
  eat the least
• Salmon is the favourite fish of young Norwegians

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Would you like to find out more?

• Visit www.laksefakta.no
• Articles about salmon and aquaculture
• Presentations and fact sheets
• Free material
• Appetising salmon recipes

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