Is it vegan to eat lettuce that was grown aquaponically?
Aquaponics is a method of growing plants using hydroponics, but where the nutrients in the water come from aquatic animals such as fish, crayfish, snails or prawns. It's a method frequently used to grow chinese cabbage, lettuce, basil, spinach, chives, herbs, and watercress.
Unfortunately, I recently ate lettuce that tasted like fish, and I suspect it's because it was grown aquaponically.
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| A miserably tiny tank with catfish is used to fertilize Swiss Chard in an Aquaponics farm (source) |
Usually such organizations will sell both the plants and the bodies of the animals whoose effluent feeds the plants, so by buying the leafs you're usually economically supporting the routine murder of the fish (similar to how buying milk supports routine murder of baby cows).
Therefore, is it vegan to buy aquaponic lettuce?
