AquaBounty Technologies, which in 2015 became the first company to gain FDA approval of a GMO animal for human consumption, a salmon, said that after months of retrenchment, it would shut down its fish farming operations. Environmental groups had challenged the FDA decision in court for years and won promises from major grocers and food service companies not to stock the AquAdvantage salmon.
“We have been working for over a year to raise capital, including the sale of our farms and equipment. Unfortunately, these efforts have not generated enough cash to maintain our operating facilities,” said David Frank, AquaBounty’s chief financial officer. “We therefore have no alternative but to close down our remaining farm operations and reduce our staff.”
FDA approval of the AquAdvantage salmon was a landmark for biotechnology. In the years since, farm groups, arguing that the FDA moves too slowly, have said federal regulation of genetically engineered food animals should be transferred to the USDA to preserve U.S. preeminence in agricultural biotechnology. Besides the GMO salmon, the FDA has approved for human consumption a gene-edited pig intended mainly for medical purposes and short-haired “slick” cattle, created by gene editing for tolerance to hot climates.
The Trump administration proposed the transfer in jurisdiction in late 2020, over FDA objections. The proposal disappeared into the regulatory underbrush when President Biden took office.
The Center for Food Safety, which sued the FDA over the GMO salmon, said the AquaBounty shutdown was proof that “this dangerous product cannot both comply with environmental laws and become a commercial reality.” Opponents said the AquAdvantage salmon was a threat to wild salmon species and would disrupt traditional fishing communities.
“If AquAdvantage had made it to market, it would have set a dangerous precedent, opening the floodgates to more GE animal products,” said the North American Marine Alliance.
AquaBounty’s strain of Atlantic salmon included a growth hormone gene from Chinook salmon. The company said its fish consumed less food while growing faster to marketable size than other salmon. It planned to raise the salmon in tanks on land.
The FDA and USDA, which share jurisdiction over cell-cultured meat, cleared the sale of cultivated chicken, the term preferred by the industry, in the United States in June 2023. The meat industry derides the rival products as “fake meat” and has challenged the industry’s right to use names associated with livestock, such as steak. Cultivated meat is expensive to produce at present, and volumes are small. Florida and Alabama have banned cultivated meat.
By contrast, GE crops have been on the market since 1996. The vast majority of U.S. corn, soybeans, and sugar beets are grown from GE seeds, so processed foods, from cereals and salad dressings to baked goods, are likely to contain GE ingredients.