Why Processed Fish Falls into the 'Proceed with Care' Category

When it comes to processed fish, convenience often comes at a cost. Products like fish fingers, battered fish, and breaded seafood may seem like quick and easy meal options, but they typically contain a wide range of added ingredients that can make them less than ideal from a health perspective. Despite the front packaging boasting statements like "100% cod" or a large Omega-3 logo, the reality is often more complex—and less nutritious.

Let's start with the fish content itself. While the package might say 100% cod, that doesn’t mean the entire product is made of fish. For example, in a 30g fish finger, often only 55% of the weight is fish. That means you're only getting around 17g of cod per fish finger, which translates to an extremely small amount of omega-3 fatty acids. Given that cod has about a tenth of the omega-3 content found in salmon, you'd need to eat 30 fish fingers to equal the omega-3 in a single softgel supplement. In terms of health benefits, the numbers just don’t add up...