Seafood Intake Low

More than 600,000 tons of fish are harvested annually in Iran of which only 100,000 tons are consumed and “the remaining is used for other purposes like manufacturing pharmaceutical products and animal feed,” said Hassan Salehi, head of the Iranian Fisheries Organization. Around 82,000 tons of seafood was also exported last year, ISNA reported. Fishmeal, a commercial product is used in poultry and livestock diets as a supplement. The gelatin extracted from fish bones is used by manufacturers of medicines, to produce capsules. The per capita consumption of seafood is around one kg in the country while global per capita fish consumption is 19 kg.