If you’ve ever ordered fresh, sustainably sourced seafood for your restaurant chain, grocery store, or seafood wholesale business, chances are you’ve come across big eye scad—one of the most underrated workhorses of global coastal fisheries, and a staple in cuisines from Southeast Asia to the Caribbean. As someone who’s supplied wild-caught big eye scad for over a decade, I get asked more questions about this fish than just how to order bulk shipments. One question that keeps popping up, especially from my chef and retail clients working to build nutrient-dense menus for their customers, is: What’s the vitamin content of big eye scad, anyway? It’s a fair question, and it’s one I don’t mind answering—because beyond being affordable, versatile, and shelf-stable, big eye scad is quietly packed with vitamins that make it a far more nutritionally valuable protein than many people give it credit for. Big Eye Scad
Let’s start with the basics: Big eye scad (scientific name Selar crumenophthalmus) is a small, oily pelagic fish, meaning it lives in the open ocean, swimming in large schools near the surface. Oily fish are famous for their omega-3s, but their vitamin profile is often overshadowed by that. Unlike larger, more high-profile oily fish like salmon or mackerel, big eye scad is lower on the food chain, feeding primarily on zooplankton and small fish, which means it retains a balanced mix of water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins without the heavy heavy metal load that sometimes plagues larger predatory fish. That’s a big win for anyone prioritizing safety and nutrition, and it’s one reason I make sure all the scad my team sources is tested regularly for contaminants before it ever leaves our dock.
Now, the vitamin breakdown, broken down by the amounts you’d typically get in a 3-ounce (85 gram) serving of cooked big eye scad—this is the standard serving size used in peer-reviewed nutritional studies, so the numbers are consistent across all the data I’ve pulled over the years working with fisheries researchers. First up, fat-soluble vitamins, which are the ones stored in your body’s fat tissue and needed for everything from immune function to eye health. Big eye scad is a solid source of vitamin A, coming in at about 180 international units (IU) per serving. Wait, that might sound low compared to a 3-ounce serving of salmon, which has around 1000 IU of vitamin A—but let’s put that in perspective. The daily recommended intake (DRI) for adult men is 900 IU, and for women it’s 700 IU, so a serving of scad delivers roughly 20% of a woman’s daily needs, and 17% of a man’s. What’s more, the vitamin A in scad is in the form of retinol, the active form that your body can use immediately, not the plant-based beta-carotene that needs to be converted. That’s a key detail many nutrition labels skip, and it’s important for anyone who might have trouble converting plant-based vitamins, like people with certain digestive conditions.
Next, we have vitamin D, the vitamin that’s been in the news nonstop for the last decade, thanks to its link to bone health, immune function, and even mood regulation. A lot of small fish get overlooked for vitamin D, but big eye scad is actually a great source. A 3-ounce serving has around 180 IU of vitamin D. The DRI for adults is 600 IU, so that’s 30% of your daily needs from just one serving. For people who live in northern latitudes where sunlight exposure drops in the winter, adding big eye scad to your menu a couple times a week can help you hit that target without needing supplements. I’ve had several of my restaurant clients who operate in cities like Chicago and Toronto, where winter sunlight is scarce, switch to adding grilled or fried big eye scad to their lunch and dinner specials specifically for the vitamin D boost—and their customers have noticed the difference in how they feel, not just in terms of energy, but in reduced seasonal tiredness, too.
Then there’s the B-vitamin complex, which is where big eye scad really shines. B-vitamins are water-soluble, meaning your body excretes any excess, so you need regular intake, and they’re critical for energy production, brain function, and red blood cell formation. Let’s break down the key B-vitamins in a serving of big eye scad. First, vitamin B12: This is non-negotiable, especially for vegans and vegetarians, but even omnivores often don’t get enough. A 3-ounce serving of scad has a whopping 2.5 micrograms of B12. The DRI is 2.4 micrograms for adults, so that’s 100% of your daily needs in one serving. For context, that’s the same amount you’d get from a 3-ounce serving of salmon, and more than you’d get from a 3-ounce serving of beef. That’s a huge selling point for anyone looking to offer a high-B12 protein at an affordable price.
Next up is niacin, also known as vitamin B3. Niacin is important for digestive health, skin health, and converting food into energy. A 3-ounce serving of big eye scad has about 8 milligrams of niacin, which is 50% of your daily recommended intake. That’s more than a 3-ounce serving of chicken breast, which has around 7 mg, and way more than most white fish like cod or tilapia. Thiamine, or vitamin B1, is another key B-vitamin, and scad delivers about 0.15 milligrams per serving, which is 10% of your daily needs. Thiamine is especially important for people who eat a lot of processed foods, as those can deplete thiamine levels, so adding scad to a balanced diet helps keep levels steady.
Wait, I should also mention a common question I get from my retail clients: Is there a difference in vitamin content between fresh scad and frozen scad? As a supplier, I often get asked if freezing ruins the vitamins, and the answer is no—not if it’s flash-frozen immediately after being caught. Big eye scad is a very perishable fish, and most commercial suppliers flash-freeze it within hours of it being brought in from the nets to lock in freshness and nutrients, rather than refrigerating it for days during transport. In fact, a 2021 study from the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (which is the leading research body for this region’s scad fisheries) tested fresh versus flash-frozen big eye scad and found that there was less than a 5% difference in vitamin content between the two, mostly due to minor water loss during freezing, not loss of the vitamins themselves. That’s why I always recommend our clients stock frozen scad— it has the same vitamin profile as fresh, has a much longer shelf life, and is far more consistent in quality, which is a big plus for grocery stores that need to avoid food waste.
Now, let’s put this into context of why this matters for businesses like yours, whether you’re a restaurant owner looking to add new, nutrient-dense menu items, or a grocery store buyer looking to stock affordable, healthy seafood for your customers. A lot of people still see small oily fish like scad as “cheap” or “low-quality” compared to fancy imports like Atlantic salmon or Chilean sea bass, but the vitamin content tells a different story. Let’s do a quick comparison: A 3-ounce serving of wild Atlantic salmon has about 121 IU of vitamin D, 98% of your daily B12, and 10 mg of niacin—so it’s higher in those specific nutrients, but big eye scad is 1/3 the cost, has lower mercury levels (since it’s lower on the food chain), and has almost all the same key vitamins in comparable amounts. For a restaurant that’s trying to keep food costs down without cutting back on nutrient value, or a grocery store that’s catering to budget-conscious families, that’s a game-changer.
I also want to address a misconception about small pelagic fish like scad: some people worry they’re too “fishy” for their customers, or that they’re only used for canned seafood. But as a supplier, I’ve worked with chefs to develop dozens of recipes that make big eye scad approachable for all palates—grilled with lime and garlic, fried into crispy scad bites for appetizers, even smoked and added to charcuterie boards for a unique twist. And that vitamin content is a major selling point when you’re marketing the dish. I had a client in Miami last year who started offering “Vitamin Boost Scad Tacos” as a lunch special, and they advertised the B12 and vitamin D content on the menu, and they sold out of the special three days a week for six months straight. Customers loved that it was a healthy, affordable option, and they had no idea how nutrient-dense small fish like scad were until the chef told them.
Another point that comes up a lot: sustainability. As someone who’s been in the fishing industry for 12 years, I can tell you that big eye scad is one of the most sustainable fisheries in the world. The global scad stock is managed by regional fisheries bodies, and the nets we use are selective, so we only catch scad, not other species. That means when you source scad from a reputable supplier like us, you’re not just getting a nutritionally valuable product—you’re supporting a fishery that has a tiny carbon footprint compared to larger fish imports, since we source it from local, well-managed waters, not shipped across the world.
Now, I know that for many of you, the bottom line is: how do I add this to my business? Whether you’re looking for bulk fresh scad for daily delivery, or frozen scad for long-term storage, our team works with restaurants, grocery chains, seafood distributors, and even food manufacturers to meet your needs. We handle all the testing for contaminants, we offer consistent pricing, and we can tailor shipments to whatever volume you need—whether you need 50 pounds a week for a small local diner, or 50,000 pounds a month for a large regional grocery chain.
If you’re ready to add a nutrient-dense, affordable, sustainable protein to your menu or store shelves, I’d be happy to chat more about the vitamin content, pricing, or how our big eye scad can work for your specific business needs. We can provide lab test results for the vitamin content, share recipe ideas, and even connect you with other local chefs who have had success incorporating scad into their offerings. Don’t let the small size of big eye scad fool you—it’s one of the most nutritionally packed and versatile seafood products out there, and it’s time more businesses and customers take advantage of it.
Horse Mackerel References:
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2020). Nutritional Composition of Commercially Important Pelagic Fish Species. Rome: FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department.
- Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center. (2021). Nutrient Retention in Fresh vs. Flash-Frozen Big Eye Scad (Selar crumenophthalmus). Technical Report No. SEAFDEC/TD/21/05.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. (2023). FoodData Central: Nutrient Values for Fish, Scad, Big Eye, Cooked. Retrieved from USDA FoodData Central Database.
Changshion Foods Co., Ltd.
As one of the most professional big eye scad manufacturers and suppliers in China, we have world-leading production equipment and strong manufacturing capabilities. Please rest assured to wholesale high quality big eye scad at competitive price from our factory.
Address: NO. 710, JIUER EAST ROAD, SHISHI CITY, QUANZHOU CITY, FUJIAN PROVINCE, CHINA
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