FOI2025/00192 - Antimicrobial use in salmon farms
Published 5 February 2026
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1. FOI2025/00192 Request
I’m trying to compare the total antimicrobial use in salmon farms in Scotland vs Norway.
I see there’s quite a simple figure of 741kg for Norway
https://www.intrafish.com/aquaculture/antibiotic-use-in-norwegian-aquaculture-ticks-up-but-still-stands-at-fraction-of-chiles/2-1-1902359
But Scotland’s use is measured in mg/kg making it difficult to compare the two. Do you have an overall figure for Scotland (in kg) or do you know what the mg/kg is based on (ie is it based on the total 2024 production of 192,000 tonnes, or is it based on the total biomass in Scotland or something else?)
2. Our reply
The amount of active ingredient reported by the salmon sector in 2024 was 944.58kg.
The denominator used for the antibiotic use calculations is biomass of liveweight, which in 2024 was 192,000 tonnes.
These are the figures which are used to calculate the salmon antibiotic use figure of 4.9 mg/kg which is included in the 2024 UK-VARSS report.