FDA Lifts Import Ban on Genetically Modified Salmon

The Food and Drug Administration has lifted an import ban that prevented genetically modified salmon from entering the United States.

Congress in 2016 directed the FDA not to allow food into the U.S. that contained genetically engineered salmon until the agency implemented superior labeling guidelines for informing people that certain foods contained the altered salmon.

According to the FDA, it complied with the guideline by blocking modified salmon from entering the U.S. However, after Congress enacted the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard relating to food labels in December, the FDA has decided to deactivate the import alert.

"Advancements in the dynamic field of biotechnology are bringing about the development of innovative, new food products," the FDA said in a statement. "At the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, we're committed to helping food developers bring biotechnology innovations to market while at the same time providing consumers with confidence that foods available for purchase in the U.S. – whether developed using traditional breeding techniques or biotechnology – meet the FDA's high safety standards."

With the ban lifted, salmon eggs from AquAdvantage, a company that genetically modifies Atlantic salmon, can be imported into the company's contained growth facility in Indiana to be raised into salmon for food.

AquAdvantage genetically engineers salmon by using a growth hormone regulating gene from Pacific chinook salmon with a promoter gene from ocean pout, an eel-like fish. The company can grow the genetically engineered Atlantic salmon year-round instead of just during the spring and summer.

The FDA approved the fish in 2015 and found it to be safe to eat, that the genetic modifications were safe for the fish and confirmed that it reaches a growth benchmark important to the aquaculture industry faster than non-modified farm-raised Atlantic salmon. The FDA also studied the environmental impact of the genetically engineered fish and found that it "would not cause a significant impact on the U.S. environment."