Back to All Media

Nov 19, 2016

One year ago today U.S. FDA approved AquAdvantage Salmon

To celebrate the anniversary of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of our AquAdvantage Salmon for commercial production and consumption, we are posting a series of articles that have appeared over the past year. We will start with the FDA press release issued on November 19, 2015.

---

FDA Has Determined That the AquAdvantage Salmon is as Safe to Eat as Non-GE Salmon After an exhaustive and rigorous scientific review, FDA has arrived at the decision that AquAdvantage salmon is as safe to eat as any non-genetically engineered (GE) Atlantic salmon, and also as nutritious. FDA’s Review of the GE Salmon 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. The data demonstrated that the inserted genes remained stable over several generations of fish, that food from the GE salmon is safe to eat by humans and animals, that the genetic engineering is safe for the fish, and the salmon meets the sponsor’s claim about faster growth. In addition, FDA assessed the environmental impacts of approving this application and found that the approval would not have a significant impact on the environment of the United States. That’s because the multiple containment measures the company will use in the land-based facilities in Panama and Canada make it extremely unlikely that the fish could escape and establish themselves in the wild. Read the full release and supporting documents.