GENETICALLY modified salmon has reached the dinner tables in Canada.
The supermarkets in the country have become the first in the world to stock the GM fish.
About five tonnes of GM salmon have been sold in the country in recent months, as reavealed by AquaBounty Technologies, the company in Maynard, Massachusetts, that developed the fish.
[ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”2,3,5″ ihc_mb_template=”1″ ]It took AquaBounty more than 25 years to get to this point.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the salmon in November 2015, and Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency followed in May 2016.
Canadian officials in a statement said four years of testing had found the modified salmon to be as safe and nutritious as conventional salmon, meaning no special labelling would be required to sell it.
As genetically modified animals are regulated as drugs, which is why the FDA is responsible.
That explains why these salmon, which were first developed back in 1989, are only now reaching the marketplace.
Despite the 2015 approval, the salmon still hasn’t hit US shelves due to a section in the congressional spending bill, that requires the FDA finalise guidance related to labelling before imports can begin.
The fish, a variety of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), which contains a gene from a Chinook salmon and a gene from the ocean pout – has been at the heart of a heated debate over transgenic animals as food.
Originally developed by a group of Canadian scientists at Newfoundland’s Memorial University, the salmon can grow twice as fast as conventionally farmed Atlantic salmon, reaching adult size in some 18 months as compared to 30 months.
The fish also requires 75% less feed to grow to the size of wild salmon, reducing its carbon footprint by up to 25 times, the company has claimed.
The company also said its fish are sterile and are currently only being raised in landlocked tanks.
Those sold in recent months in Canada are thought to have been bred in tanks in Panama, but the company is currently laying the groundwork to expand its operations to Prince Edward Island on Canada’s east coast.
Some 30 other species of GM fish including tilapia and trout are in development around the world, as are GM cows, chickens and pigs.
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