If the saying “you are what you eat” is true for salmon, then the US Department of Agriculture’s recent ruling for labeling farmed fish “organic” would make farmed salmon only about three quarters organic. On Wednesday this week, the National Organic Standards Board approved the nation’s first federal ruling on organic seafood certification - which allows up to 25 percent of the salmon’s diet to have come from non-organic feed (including small wild fish), while certified organic livestock must still be fed a 100 percent organic diet.

Up until the ruling, the USDA had established no standards for organic seafood - although some retailers labeled their product organic anyway. Many are concerned that this ruling undermines the integrity of federal organic standards. In a recent Consumer’s Union poll, 93 percent agreed that farmed fish labeled as organic should be fed a 100 percent organic diet.

The debate has challenged scientists and regulators for years, especially when the question is raised about the possibility of wild caught salmon being organic. The diet of a wild fish is out of our control - which is why heavy metals are still found in many of the wild fish species we consume. They eat lots of small fish and bioaccumulate substances that we would rather not consume (i.e., mercury). With farmed fish, we have control over what they eat, which potentially allows us to provide a diet free from the heavy metals and toxins found in a wild fish’s diet. But not all fish farming has been conducted responsibly, and much of the aquaculture performed today results in having very negative effects on surrounding ecosystems - from spreading diseases and parasites to keeping the fish packed densely together in waters highly concentrated with their own waste.

The fishing industry, our regulators and all people who love to eat fish are faced with a difficult question: how can we continue to eat the fish we enjoy while maintaining a healthy system for sustaining such a vital resource?

Given the choice between wild and farmed organic, which fish would you choose to eat?