Salmon feed composition affects fish health, immune function, and welfare, with increasing fishmeal replacement raising questions about nutritional adequacy.
Salmon nutrition is a welfare issue because nutritional inadequacy causes physiological harm — gut inflammation, immune suppression, and metabolic disease. The transition to plant-based feed ingredients to reduce fishmeal dependence has welfare implications if not carefully managed. Some plant ingredients cause intestinal enteritis (inflammation) that impairs nutrient absorption and represents genuine suffering. Novel ingredients including insect meal and algae offer alternatives that may maintain nutritional adequacy while reducing environmental footprint. The welfare case for thorough nutrition research before deploying dietary changes at scale is clear.