‘Just Like Regular Pork’: FDA Grants ‘Investigational’ Approval for Pork Products Made From Gene-Edited Pigs

“Gene-editing livestock to quickly produce desirable traits for improved food production is a viable strategy for helping feed the planet’s growing population,” the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said, but scientists argue the gene-editing technology involved has not been proven safe.

Describing it as the “future of how we need to feed people,” a group of scientists and researchers from Washington State University (WSU) enjoyed some “smoky, and mildly salty” pork sausage earlier this month — derived from gene-edited pigs.

The WSU research team recently received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow pork meat from gene-edited pigs into the human food supply — resulting in the celebratory barbecue featuring sausage with “a good snap to the casings … just like regular pork.”

The FDA approval, which does not appear on the agency’s website, is investigational and limited to the specific pigs raised by the research team for this purpose. It is touted as evidence that “gene-editing livestock to quickly produce desirable traits for improved food production is a viable strategy for helping feed the planet’s growing population.”