Genetically modified (GM) “false flax” containing the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil could well be joining GM soya in the manufactured feeds fed to farmed fish if the U.K. government grants permission for field trials to go ahead.
Rothamsted Research, the longest running agricultural research station in the world, wants to test whether GM Camelina sativa plants are able to make significant quantities of omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in their seeds.
The trials, which could go ahead as soon as this spring, are likely to be controversial. British consumers are concerned that GM ingredients will be introduced into the human food chain and previous GM crops grown on a trial basis in the U.K. have been destroyed.
This concern is largely engendered by the efforts of NGOs such as Greenpeace and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) that continually stress that the risks of GM food have not been adequately identified and managed.
Rothamsted Research is therefore emphasising that its trials are aimed at producing commercial quantities of omega-3 fatty acids for fish feed rather than for direct human consumption. Although, given the many benefits of omega-3 fatty acids to human health, it is pretty certain that these plant-derived oils would eventually find their way into the direct human food chain if the trials are successful.
However, in the meantime, GM ingredients will be fed to fish that will be used for human consumption, although consumers will be unaware that this is happening. Last April, SeafoodSource reported that the use of GM soya in fish feed is widespread. In fact, one industry source said that it was very difficult to obtain non-GM soya anyway. “There is no natural (non-genetically modified) soya to be found anywhere.”
Leading fish feed manufacturers Skretting and Ewos, disagreed and said they were able to source non-GM soya. However, this would be for European customers implying that the “fear” of eating GM foods by consumers in the EU outweighed the reduction in cost from using GM soya. Consumers in other countries are not so concerned.
Said Marit Husa, speaking last year as communications manager of Skretting: “We can use GM soya in feed in those countries where it is permitted and our customers, the retailers and consumers accept it, as it helps to keep down the cost of feed.”
So far, there has been no mention of cost benefits or otherwise of using plant-derived omega-3 fatty acids in fish feeds. However, what has been stressed, of course, is that using plants as a source of omega-3 fatty acids will help to prevent overfishing.
According to “The Independent,” about 80 percent of the world’s supply of ocean-derived fish oil is fed to farmed fish and scientists at Rothamsted believe that “growing GM crops on arable land will be more sustainable and better for the environment than trawling the sea for small fish to feed them to bigger fish.”
What a dilemma this will be for the likes of WWF that is all for sustaining fish stocks, but is against the growing of GM foods!
Meanwhile Andrew Mallison, director general of IFFO (the Marine Ingredients Organization), has written to The Independent, pointing out that “approximately 40 percent of the world’s production of fish oil comes from sources that have been assessed against an independent [FAO] standard.”
Also, he said, “increasing amounts of marine protein and oil now come from recycled trimmings and off-cuts from fish processing. Latest estimates indicate this forms around one third (and rising) of total raw material used.”
It looks as though this debate will run and run. But it seems as though the GM ingredient content in manufactured fish feed will only increase and consumers will continue to be kept in the dark.
