Many people think that Pangasius fishes are real carnivores that predominantly eat fish. The truth is that Pangasius are more like herbivores, as they have a plant-based diet for 92%. Their diet consists mainly of rice bran, vegetables, soybean meal and similar feed. This vegetarian diet makes Pangasius an environmentally friendly fish.

The feed of Pangasius has developed greatly over the years in a positive way. A change from homemade fish feed to industrial processed feed has brought several advantages. One advantage of industrial feed is that it limits environmental pollution because of the use of food residuals. Another advantage is that it can reduce fish diseases. The feed innovation made the diet of Pangasius even more environmentally friendly.

Besides the benefits of the type of feed consumed by Pangasius, there are also benefits concerned with the amount of feed intake. Pangasius need relatively little feed to grow: only 1.6 kilogram of feed is necessary to grow into a fish of 1 kilogram. This food-conversion ratio is superior to most other fish types we consume. Salmon needs for instance 2 to 3 kilograms of wild fish to grow into a fish of 1 kilogram. This means that more food is saved for other purposes when Pangasius is produced.

The diet of Pangasius can as such be described as herbivore and low input. The result is that Pangasius has a small environmental footprint. Another benefit is that this diet results in reasonable consumer prices of Pangasius products in supermarkets and restaurants because of the relatively low farming costs.

Consuming Pangasius is, therefore, a good idea when you would like to eat a healthy and tasty fish and you want to do well, cost-wise and environmentally. Go to our Pangasius recipes for inspiration about Pangasius meals.