Genetically Engineered Salmon Gets FDA Approval

“It’s not going to be on the shelf tomorrow”, said Jaffe, who agrees with the FDA that the genetically engineered salmon would be perfectly safe to eat.

The FDA has approved AquaBounty Technologies’ (LON:ABTU, OTC: AQBT) genetically enhanced salmon for production, sale and consumption.

A lawyer for Ecojustice, representing the Ecology Action Centre and Living Oceans Society in their lawsuit, said the FDA approval wouldn’t have any impact on its case before the court.

The agency said in the “highly unlikely event that any salmon escaped” from the P.E. I. facility, potential for the genetically-modified salmon’s survival would be extremely low. Knowing an FDA approval was likely, critics have in recent years won commitments from a few of the nation’s most recognizable chains – including Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Target – to not sell the fish. But the agency said Thursday the fish is safe to eat.

Its inventors at a MA company called AquaBounty Technologies have argued that the salmon can be grown nearer to end markets with greater efficiency than the Atlantic salmon now reared in remote coastal fish farms – making it better for the environment, with recycled waste and lower transport costs. “The FDA approval in a few senses makes our concerns more pressing”. But that won’t end the ongoing debate in the environmental community about the effects that the fish could have on the environment if they escaped from the tanks where the company plans to raise them.

“AquAdvantage Salmon is a game-changer that brings healthy and nutritious food to consumers in an environmentally responsible manner without damaging the ocean and other marine habitats”.

The FDA will not require mandatory labeling showing that the fish is genetically modified.

Once the salmon reach stores, consumers may not know they are eating them.

Where will the genetically modified salmon be sold? “We will continue to work to ensure the market, from grocery retailers to restaurants, continues to listen to majority of consumers that don’t want to eat this poorly studied, unlabeled genetically engineered fish”. Because they grow faster, the engineered salmon could become an invasive species that harms wild salmon populations.

The FDA also said that there is no “material difference” between the GM Atlantic salmon and the non-GM Atlantic salmon which means there will be no compulsory requirement for the product to be labelled as GM produce.

The water near the facility is too salty for the young fish to survive, the agency noted, and larger, older fish would have to penetrate a series barriers and screens with openings roughly 10 to 100 times narrower than the fish is wide. The fish would be bred to be female and sterile, so if any did escape, they should not be able to breed.

The agency said the salmon met several safety criteria, as well as being found to have a similar nutritional value to conventionally farmed salmon.