The 20th anniversary of the application by U.S.-based salmon farmer AquaBounty to sell genetically modified (GMO) salmon came and went this month with little fanfare, but despite no decision yet from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), there’s no sign the uproar over AquaBounty’s product is dying down.
The latest developments began earlier this year, with U.S. grocery retailer Costco. While the warehouse club recently said it will not currently sell genetically modified salmon, it left the door open to sell AquaBounty’s AquAdvantage salmon in the future.
After more than 300,000 petition signatures urging the retailer to commit to not selling the salmon were delivered to Costco headquarters in Issaquah, Wash., this summer, Costco issued this statement to KIRO 7 in Seattle:
“Currently pending before the United States Food and Drug Administration is a request for approval to import to the United States farmed salmon that is genetically modified. This species is said by its proponents to be more efficient in converting feed to gain. Efficiency in aquaculture is a factor that we consider in our sourcing, particularly reliance on forage fisheries for fish oil and fishmeal. Based on the information available to us at this time, however, and the absence of regulatory approval, we do not plan to sell GMO salmon. We will continue to monitor development.”
While a Costco spokesperson declined to comment further on the issue to SeafoodSource, he confirmed that the KIRO 7 statement is correct.
“We applaud Costco's stance on this issue and think they have showed corporate courage and integrity in their position,” Ron Stotish, CEO of AquaBounty, told SeafoodSource.
Several organizations, including Friends of the Earth, Center for Food Safety, Food & Water Watch, Campaign for Safe Food and Organic Consumers Association, urged Costco to publicly commit to not sell GMO salmon under any circumstances. Costco’s statement, they argued, does not go far enough, because it “leaves the door open” that the retailer may sell AquAdvantage salmon after it receives FDA approval.
“We want them to stand up as a true leader in seafood sustainability and listen to the science – and their consumers, who don’t want to eat genetically engineered seafood,” said Dana Perls, campaign organizer for Friends of the Earth.
However, the groups have received commitments from 60 other U.S. retailers, including Safeway, Kroger, Target and Trader Joe’s, that they will not sell AquAdvantage salmon if it is approved for sale in the United States by the FDA.
Next, anti-AquAdvantage groups will begin a dialogue with Walmart, urging the chain to also commit to not selling the GMO fish, Perls said. While Walmart is the largest U.S. retailer, the groups opposing GMO salmon believed it was first “really important to get on board the retailers that claim to be the leaders of seafood sustainability … and that we are unified in what seafood sustainability means in terms of GMO salmon,” Perls said.
