FDA: Genetically Modified Salmon Is Now Safe To Eat

After dragging its feet year after year, the Food and Drug Administration finally conceded the unavoidable scientific reality: AquaBounty Technologies’ genetically engineered Atlantic salmon is safe for human consumption.

The salmon contains a gene from the Chinook salmon and molecular material from the ocean pout fish, which is similar to an eel. The FDA scientists rigorously evaluated extensive data submitted by the manufacturer, AquaBounty Technologies, and other peer-reviewed data, to assess whether AquAdvantage salmon met the criteria for approval established by law; namely, safety and effectiveness.

In the lengthy approval process of the FDA, the agency had assessed the nutritional profiles as well as the hormone levels to compare modified fishes to fishes raised in farms.

AquAdvantage Salmon may be raised only in land-based, contained hatchery tanks in two specific facilities in Canada and Panama. Opponents and consumer groups, however, argue that the safety studies done on the fish were inadequate, and wild populations of salmon might be affected if this new fish were to escape to the wild. The FDA did not find any differences between traditional salmon and AquaBounty’s, so the company will not have to label it as such.

Food and Water Watch in the States panned the approval, saying the decision “disregards AquaBounty’s disastrous environmental record, which greatly raises the stakes for an environmentally damaging escape of GM salmon”.

The company says these faster-growing fish take pressure off wild fisheries and have fewer environmental impacts than regular farmed fish. The result of this is that on average, an AquAdvantage salmon will grow twice as fast as unaltered Atlantic salmon, making it much easier to produce.

One of the requirements that the genetically engineered fish needs to meet is that the food coming from it is safe to eat. The FDA isn’t aware of any information that foods from genetically engineered sources differ from their non-genetically engineered counterparts or are less safe, she added.

The US does not require labeling to identify genetically modified food.

The first genetically-altered animal cleared for you to eat may be on your dinner table within a few years. It also says that because the fish are sterile, they would not be able to breed with wild salmon.

The FDA released separate wording that would set guidelines for retailers who do want to label the fish, along with additional guidance for voluntary labeling of genetically modified plant foods.