Eight things you need to know about GM salmon

1. AquAdvantage Salmon is the first transgenic animal to be approved for food in the USA. The US FDA announced that the salmon is safe to eat in 2015.
2. A transgenic animal is one that has been genetically modified by adding genes from other species. In this case, the Atlantic salmon was modified with genes from Chinook salmon and ocean pout (a perch-like fish with good tolerance to low temperatures).
3. The FDA review and assessment process took 20 years.
4. The FDA’s safety assessment considered risks to people who are allergic to fish. The allergenicity of AquAdvantage Salmon was found to be no different to other types of salmon.
5. The fish are only allowed to be raised in tanks in land-locked areas to prevent them from cross-breeding with other fish.
6. The developers of the fish are promoting their environmental benefits, including less ocean pollution and a reduced requirement for wild-caught fish which are used as feed when farming salmon. The GM fish eat less and grow to market weight faster than conventionally farmed salmon.
7. Food from transgenic organisms, including AquAdvantage Salmon has to be labelled as such in the United States.
8. Michele Henry, Toronto Food Writer, describes the eating experience as “Exquisite”

Updated: November 2020.