The salmon was produced by inserting a growth hormone gene from a Chinook salmon, as well as a gene from the ocean pout, which make the animal grow faster.
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Regulators “determined that food from AquAdvantage Salmon is as safe to eat and as nutritious as food from other non-GE Atlantic salmon and that there are no biologically relevant differences in the nutritional profile of AquAdvantage Salmon compared to that of other farm-raised Atlantic salmon”, the FDA said.
The FDA said on Thursday, that the modified salmon met the safety and effectiveness requirements, and that “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”.
Because there are no real differences between a modified salmon and a normal one, the FDA will not require packaging labels that say it is genetically engineered.
In either case, the FDA now says studies indicate the genetically modified salmon is safe to eat, but a few national grocery stores have vowed not to sell it. “The current practice of using wild-caught salmon as a food source is not sustainable, our oceans are overfished”, Dr. Muir said. A number of retailers have said they won’t carry the salmon, Trader Joe’s, Target and Whole Foods.
Since 2010, the Obama administration has been reluctant to approve the fish, dubbed AquaAdvantage Salmon, for human consumption because of uncertainties over its safety.
Put Legal Sea Foods president Roger Berkowitz in the skeptics’ camp when it comes to genetically modified seafood. “Consumers who want information about the GE salmon should be able to obtain it, either on the label, in printed materials associated with the product, on a website, or through other communications”, said the group’s Biotechnology Director Gregory Jaffe.
However, the salmon’s detractors have claimed that the approval sets a unsafe precedent by sanctioning the introduction of GM animals into the human food chain.
This will be the first genetically modified animal approved to eat in the US although people already eat GM corn, soybeans and potatoes.
Within the next few years, you may be served a fillet of salmon without being informed that it came from a genetically-modified fish.
The agency added that “multiple and redundant levels of physical barriers” will be in place to prevent the fish from escaping. The FDA and the governments of Canada and Panama will inspect the facilities.
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The news has prompted no small amount of concern from consumers, public health experts, and environmental groups, especially given that the salmon will not have to be labeled as being genetically engineered.
