The US Food and Drug Administration approved a genetically modified salmon brand Thursday, the first approval in the US for a genetically engineered animal intended for food.
Massachusetts-based AquaBounty Technologies’ AquAdvantage Salmon is an Atlantic salmon that reaches market size more quickly than non-GE farm-raised Atlantic salmon. The FDA regulates GE animals under the new animal drug provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, because the recombinant DNA (rDNA) construct introduced into the animal meets the definition of a drug. In this case, the rDNA construct introduces a trait that makes the AquAdvantage Salmon grow faster.