Do we use hormones, steroids or antibiotics on farmed fish?

The short answer is no. We never use hormones on the farm, and we raise our fish free of antibiotics and to the organic standard.

But because you’re asking the farmers, we will give you the long answer.

We occasionally use antibiotics, but only when it’s absolutely necessary for keeping the fish healthy. It’s part of our standards for humane raising them.

If we use antibiotics, it’s only when the fish are very young because they’re immune systems aren’t strong enough. It’s only a last resort when they’re sick and our other tricks aren’t working to get them better.

We have not medicated a fish over 3 months old (25 grams) for at least 5 years — to contextualize that, you eat a fish when it’s 2 years old and 50 times bigger at 1,000 – 1,500 grams.

The reason that we can keep our Ocean Wise Recommendation is because we have such low uses of antibiotics in Ontario, and the same goes for our certification from the Global Aquaculture Alliance. The low antibiotic use is one of the defining things they noted on their last audit.

Here’s a strange fact: Even if a fish is deemed “organic”, it may very well have the same medical treatments when they are young. The organic standard focuses on the last 90% of the fish’s growth because

• sometimes using antibiotics on the younger fish is a welfare issue, as in you wouldn’t want to leave them sick if they need help, and
• any tiny bit of residue has been out of the fish for two years before you eat it!

Read more about organic fish.