There is no restaurant, simple or starred, that does not have it on the menu, all year round, cooked in every possible and imaginable way. Even in company canteens he has become the king of the table. What about diets; when it comes to Omega3, alternative proteins to meat, it manages to win the competition with Mediterranean products that are also well rooted in our gastronomic tradition, such as anchovies and sardines. According to a survey by the Norwegian public body Norwegian Seafood Council, salmon in Italy has reached the popularity of pizza. It is the main ingredient of sushi, poké and other dishes much appreciated especially by young people, who eat them on average three times a month. A change in gastronomic culture linked to the massification of foods once considered “for the rich” and a health trend that tends to favor fish over meat and in the first case those species with the so-called “good fat”.
Ours is the third market in Europe for consumption of Scandinavian salmon, after Poland and France, which increased from 84 thousand tonnes in 2017 to 154 thousand in 2025. Much of this fish on sale in supermarkets, fishmongers and restaurants is imported starting from the Nordic countries, especially from Norway, the leading producer in the world which in Italy in 2025 had 88% of the market. On the counter it is also found coming from Chile, Scotland and Canada. Despite large trade volumes and sales that rose by 27%, global demand exploded, putting production under stress: from 2014 to 2024 it rose by 98%. But apparently it is not enough to satisfy the ever-increasing need.
With the exponential increase in demand, intensive farming and the problems associated with it have spread, but it has also led to the unregulated hunting of wild fish with consequent impact on the ecosystem. Wild salmon populations have declined by around 70% in the last 50 years, to the point that in the United Kingdom, where it is the most exported but also most present food on the table, it has been considered in danger of extinction since 2023. The prized species of Red King or Chinook that inhabits the waters of the North Pacific has been drastically reduced: from the 375 thousand specimens that passed through the Yukon River towards North America every year in the 1980s, it has fallen to around 65 thousand. According to experts, the phenomenon would be determined not only by senseless fishing, but also by a mix of other causes, from pollution, to the use of trawl nets used for cod and other fish species and in which many salmon also remain imprisoned, to the proliferation of their predators such as otters, seals and cormorants, the hunting of which is prohibited.
The livestock industry is also not free from problems. Born in Norway in the 1970s, today it generates around 16 billion euros a year and is the second largest export after oil. In the intensive form it uses large circular floating cages along the coastal areas, which can contain up to 200 thousand specimens. Industry representatives say farms are subject to very strict national and international guidelines, but when fish live in close contact it is easy for them to get sick.
Then there is another phenomenon that is spreading, again linked to the increase in demand. Some producers are starting to use feed created with chicken. Blue fish, which is traditionally used to make groundbait for livestock farming, has become very expensive. The cost is affected both by the increase in the price of fuel and by climate change which has led these fish to migrate towards colder waters, impoverishing some basins, once rich in these specimens, such as around Peru.
All these issues lead the consumer to the crucial dilemma: wild or farmed? But for Claudio Cerati, founder of Upstream, a company that sells the finest qualities of salmon and who has even dedicated a book to this fish to dismantle prejudices and clichés (The truth, please, about salmon), this is a misleading simplification. «I often hear the same question: wild or bred? As if the ranking of the quality of salmon was resolved in the answer to this question, to this watershed, one good, the one caught in the wild, the other of uncertain healthiness. But the issue is more complex, even if I am aware that the consumer cannot support a degree thesis on the subject before approaching the fish shelf”, states Cerati.
But then let’s clarify, in short what can guide the choice at the counter? If it’s not the farmed and wild distinction, what? «I’ll say it briefly and it may seem obvious: it’s the price. In the 1970s, salmon was fished along the rivers of Canada and was considered a luxury product. It only appeared on the table at Christmas. Then it became mass consumption, pushing producers towards intensive farming and finding ways to lower the price. When this is too low there is something in terms of quality that should make one suspicious.” Cerati warns: «A fresh product with a shelf life of 30 days must cost around 15 euros per hectogram. When the customer runs out of choice criteria on the wild-raised binary, he trivializes the search. Even among savages there is no guarantee of excellent quality, but there are differences. For example, Red King, also known as Chinook or King Salmon, is more valuable than Sockeye, commonly known as Alaskan Red Salmon. In farming, a distinction must be made between intensive farming, which uses antibiotics, and farming which respects the animal and guarantees its quality. The Faroe Islands have banned the use of antibiotics, dyes and GMOs and produce good salmon in clean waters, where they have introduced cleaner fish to avoid infections and have created a perfect farming model.”
Cerati then explains that another factor that determines quality is the manufacturing process. «Before smoking there is marinating. To lower the price this is often done by pickling the fish or injecting it with a flavoring solution of smoke flavourings.” But how does the consumer verify all this at the counter? In addition to the price, as mentioned, Cerati suggests favoring origin from a European country, because «here the health rules are more stringent. Furthermore, the expiry date is important because a short expiry date is indicative of a freshly processed product without preservatives and other tricks to extend its life.”
The presence of salmon on menus all year round without seasonality was recently challenged by a group of over 120 international chefs, who signed an open letter to ask colleagues to remove fish raised in sea cages from their plates. The operation is part of Off the Tablethe campaign coordinated by the environmental organization WildFish. The promoters bring together signatures from 26 countries around the world for a declared total of over 90 Michelin Stars. For Italian catering there are, among others, Massimo Bottura and Antonia Klugmann. Open net farms are in the spotlight, since in cages installed in the sea, the fish are not isolated from the surrounding environment. The signatories denounce the dispersion of organic waste, parasites, pathogens and substances used in treatments. Sea lice in particular are dangerous because they can be transmitted to young wild specimens that pass nearby.
Salmon thus becomes the symbol of an era in which everything is standardized, in which the rush to reduce prices causes us to lose sight of quality. So then everything boils down to the dilemma: wild or farmed, hastily looking for the “bad” even at the table.
