Is it really a panga? What type of fish is it and is it healthy?

Another name for the pang is the sum of the sharks. It belongs to the freshwater fish that live naturally in the Mekong. It is cultivated industrially in ponds and exported to other countries, most often in the form of frozen fillets. It's also a very aesthetic aquarium fish. However, it needs a large tank because adult sums of sharks can reach 130 cm in length and almost 50 kg in weight.

Sharks are not demanding in quantities. Their meat is cheap and readily available for no reason. Pangas are all-eating and will eat almost anything they are fed. Fish kept in the aquarium can be fed with salad, spinach or ordinary fish feed (also live food). [1] In consumer farming, pangas are fed with rice straw and soy with a small addition of small fish [2].

In recent years, the pang has become a highly controversial food product. It seems to be a good idea for a Friday meal. It is low in calories, contains a lot of protein, and its flavor and aroma are so delicate that even the most polluted pangi pangi will be pleased. So what's wrong with the pang pang, which until a few years ago reigned on Polish tables?

According to a 2010 study conducted by the Maritime Fisheries Institute in Gdynia, pang contains significantly less mercury than e.g. butterfish or fleece. In a kilogram of pang meat, according to the cited data, there are about 10 μg of mercury. In fish, the content of mer mercury in butterfish exceeds 300 μg/kg.[5] The sum of sharks whose fillets can be obtained in the market is not a live fish. It is also not a typically predatory species, and there is no chance of living long enough to accumulate more mercury within itself. Many other contaminants are present in the Mekong.

Panga is probably not the worst fish in the world, but for safety reasons it is better to avoid it and choose cod or salmon instead. It is worth paying attention to this especially in the diet of young children and people with liver and kidney diseases, because there are heavy metals deposited in the human body. Despite the high content of panga protein there is no reason why we value fish and their products so much: large amounts of EPA and DHA acids. They are essential for the proper functioning of the nervous system and its regeneration.