Multiple certification schemes cover farmed salmon, but their welfare requirements vary widely. Understanding what different labels mean helps consumers make informed welfare-aligned choices.
Salmon welfare certification represents an important but imperfect tool for guiding consumer choices toward better welfare practices. The gap between certification claims and actual welfare outcomes in farmed salmon reflects the complexity of welfare assessment in aquaculture and the limited welfare science that informs current standards. RSPCA Assured sets more comprehensive welfare standards than most alternatives but still does not require pre-slaughter stunning for salmon. The development of more comprehensive welfare certification requires investment in welfare science research, alignment between certification bodies and welfare organisations, and consumer willingness to pay price premiums that support better welfare practices. Transparency in reporting welfare outcome data, including mortality rates, lice burdens, and lesion scores, would enable more informed certification development.