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  7. AquAdvantage Salmon Fact Sheet
  1. AquAdvantage Salmon

AquAdvantage Salmon Fact Sheet

AquAdvantage Salmon Approval

Based on a comprehensive analysis of the scientific evidence, as required by the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), the FDA determined that AquAdvantage Salmon meets the statutory requirements for safety and effectiveness under the FD&C Act. The salmon are safe to eat, the introduced DNA is safe for the fish itself, and the salmon meet the sponsor’s claim about faster growth.

The FDA also analyzed the potential environmental impact that an approval of the original AquAdvantage Salmon application and a supplemental application would have on the quality of the human environment in the United States and issued its Environmental Assessments and Findings of No Significant Impact.

How the AquAdvantage Salmon is different from other fish

AquAdvantage Salmon has been genetically engineered to reach a growth marker important to the aquaculture industry more rapidly than its non-GE farm-raised Atlantic salmon counterpart. It does so because it contains an rDNA construct that is composed of the growth hormone gene from Chinook salmon under the control of a promoter (a sequence of DNA that turns on the expression of a gene) from another type of fish called an ocean pout.

Food safety evaluation

As part of its review of the application, during which the agency held an open public meeting, took public comment, and released draft environmental documents for public review, the FDA determined that food from AquAdvantage Salmon is as safe to eat as food from non-GE Atlantic salmon. In addition, the nutritional profile of AquAdvantage Salmon is comparable to that of non-GE farm-raised Atlantic salmon.

As part of its evaluation, the FDA examined data comparing three groups of fish: non-GE farm-raised Atlantic salmon from both the sponsor’s farm and from a different commercial farm, and AquAdvantage Salmon. This study compared key hormones (including estradiol, testosterone, 11-ketotestosterone, T3, T4 and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1)) and found no biologically relevant differences.

Labeling

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA AMS) regulates the disclosure of bioengineered content on the labeling of human food from GE salmon, including AquAdvantage Salmon, under the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard. This law and its implementing regulations, issued on December 20, 2018, require that human food containing GE salmon bear labeling indicating that it is bioengineered.

Containment

Under the approval and subsequent supplements to the original approval, AquAdvantage Salmon are subject to stringent conditions to prevent the possibility of escape into the wild. The salmon cannot be raised in ocean net pens: instead, the approval allows for them to be grown only at specific land-based facilities: one in Canada, where the breeding stock are kept, and Indiana, where the fish for market will be grown out using eggs from the Canada facility.

Both the Canada and Indiana facilities have multiple and redundant physical barriers to prevent eggs and fish from escaping, including metal screens on tank bottoms, stand pipes, and incubator trays to prevent the escape of eggs and fish during hatching or rearing.

The tanks also have covers, nets, jump fences, and screened overflow tanks to prevent escape over the sides of the tanks or incubators. The facilities in Canada are indoors. All tank drains and stand pipes have covers or sleeves permanently attached to them.

In order to prevent eggs or small fish from passing through the pipes or plumbing, there is a closed septic system and additional screens and chlorine pucks are used to kill any escaped fish or eggs in the main drain area.

The fish to be grown for food in Indiana will be an all-female, reproductively sterile population.

The FDA has inspected the Canadian and Indiana facilities. Based on the agency’s review of these facilities, the agency is confident that the possibility for escape is highly unlikely, and that the procedures in place to monitor physical containment are appropriate. In addition, the Canadian government has conducted and will continue to conduct inspections of the Canadian facility.

Evaluation of environmental effects

In compliance with requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the FDA evaluated whether approval of the application and a subsequent supplement to the application would result in significant impacts on the quality of the human environment in the United States.

Based on the multiple forms of physical and biological containment proposed by AquaBounty Technologies in the original application and subsequent supplement, the FDA found that an approval of the application and supplemental application related to AquAdvantage Salmon would not cause a significant impact on the environment of the United States. This finding is based on the extremely low likelihood that AquAdvantage Salmon could escape and survive in an ocean or waterway to interbreed with wild Atlantic salmon. This is due, in part, to the physical and biological containment measures specified in the approved application. Based on the agency’s conclusion from the original and supplemental application Environmental Assessments, the agency issued Findings of No Significant Impact (FONSI). 

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