FDA Lifts Import Restrictions on Genetically Engineered Salmon

The fast-growing fish can now be raised and sold in the US, although it’s likely to be some time before the product hits the market.

Written byCatherine Offord

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A type of salmon that has been genetically modified to grow quickly is one step closer to the market, thanks to the US Food and Drug Administration’s decision to lift restrictions on the fish’s entry into the country. The move, announced on Friday (March 8), will allow AquaBounty to import AquAdvantage salmon eggs from its research and development center in Canada, grow them in the US, and then sell them as food labeled “bioengineered,” although the company is likely to face further challenges before it can do so.

“AquAdvantage Salmon eggs can now be imported to the company’s contained grow-out facility in Indiana,” Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), says in a statement. “This fish is safe to eat, the genetic construct added to the fish’s genome is safe for the animal, and the manufacturer’s claim that it reaches a growth ...

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Meet the Author

Catherine Offord
After undergraduate research with spiders at the University of Oxford and graduate research with ants at Princeton University, Catherine left arthropods and academia to become a science journalist. She has worked in various guises at The Scientist since 2016. As Senior Editor, she wrote articles for the online and print publications, and edited the magazine’s Notebook, Careers, and Bio Business sections. She reports on subjects ranging from cellular and molecular biology to research misconduct and science policy. Find more of her work at her website.
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