Yes, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has gone ahead and approved perhaps the first salmon to cause cancer and dementia because it was grown in a lab Frankenstein-style without any safety testing, except of course by the freak who did it. Welcome to the island of Dr Moreau. Dinner is served. The new Franken-salmon is called “Wild-Type” to fool consumers into thinking it is wild-caught. This is very misleading advertising and should be illegal. It is like calling GMO corn ‘organic corn’.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has quietly approved the first lab-grown salmon for human consumption, raising concerns among food safety experts about the lack of independent testing and public scrutiny of the approval process. The product, developed by Wildtype Foods – a company backed by the likes of Jeff Bezos and Leonardo DiCaprio – has already been introduced in top restaurants in Portland, Oregon, with plans to expand nationwide.
Unlike traditional Atlantic salmon, which has been eaten for thousands of years, the lab-grown version was approved solely on the basis of the manufacturer’s own safety claims, without independent verification or animal feeding trials. The FDA said it found “no basis” to dispute Wildtype’s conclusion that its product is “as safe as similar foods produced by other methods”.
Jaydee Hanson, policy director of the Center for Food Safety and an expert on synthetic biology, criticized the approval as “outrageous” and pointed out that the FDA allowed the company to use the GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) label – a classification originally intended for substances with a long history of safe consumption.
“The Generally Recognized as Safe (GRS) designation was never intended for this,” Hanson said.“The FDA is negligent in allowing a company to use a self-approved Generally Recognized as Safe method.”
How lab-grown salmon is prepared – and why experts are concerned
Wild-type salmon is produced by culturing fish cells in steel vats using a proprietary nutrient mixture of undisclosed ingredients and growth factors designed to accelerate cell proliferation. One such factor, fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2), has raised concerns among researchers about the potential residues in the final product and their possible links to uncontrolled cell growth.
Hanson pointed out other unknowns, including the undisclosed method by which the salmon gets its pink colour and whether antibacterial agents are used to maintain cell health. “The company will not disclose what it uses to give the salmon its pink colour,” he said. “They probably need some kind of antibacterial product to keep the cells healthy, but it’s not clear what product they use.”
A Troubling Precedent in Food Regulation
The authorisation marks a major change in the way novel foods are assessed, bypassing traditional safeguards such as public consultation, long-term health studies and independent testing. Unlike pesticides, which are subject to extensive public scrutiny even though they are not consumed directly, lab-grown salmon was approved without such scrutiny.
Many states, including Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Montana and Indiana, have already banned the sale of lab-grown meat, citing insufficient safety data. These bans reflect growing scepticism that federal regulators are putting business interests ahead of public health.
Potential cancer risks are being investigated
Scientists have raised alarms about the use of genetically modified cell lines in the production of lab-grown meat, as some of them behave like cancerous tumours. Patents filed by companies such as Memphis Meats describe the modification of cell lines by altering tumour-suppressing proteins, while patents filed by JUST Inc refer to growth factors that can promote uncontrolled cell proliferation.
The Bloomberg study found that some immortal cell lines used in lab-grown meat are “technically precancerous and in some cases can be fully cancerous”. Researchers at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute have also documented mutations in the TP53 gene – a critical tumour suppressor – in laboratory-grown cell lines.
What consumers can do
In the absence of federal oversight, experts recommend vigilance:
- Read labels carefully-Lab-grown products may be labelled as “cultured”, “cell-based” or “lab-grown”.”
- Ask restaurants about origin – high-end restaurants are early adopters.
- Support transparency laws-Promote mandatory labelling and independent safety audits.
- Choose traditional or organic optionsChooseverified wild-caught or organically produced seafood and plant-based proteins.
The FDA’s approval of lab-grown salmon sets a worrying precedent for food regulation, as it puts companies’ self-assessments ahead of independent safety inspections. As this technology expands, consumers, lawmakers and scientists must demand greater transparency to ensure food safety and public trust. Without rigorous controls, the long-term health and environmental effects of lab-grown meat will remain uncertain, leaving the public unwitting subjects in a high-risk experiment.