Norway has approved Aquaterra oil from genetically modified canola for use in fish feed.

GM aquafeed ingredient approved for use in Norway

Omega-3 oil derived from bioengineered canola is already available in North America, Chile, and Australia

Editorial team
Published

An omega-3 fish feed ingredient derived from genetically modified canola has become the first GM product to be approved for use in Norway.

Australian-owned Nuseed won approval for its Aquaterra-branded oil derived from GM canola (a type of oilseed rape) after Norway’s Science Committee for Food and Environment (VKM) carried out a risk assessment of the product for use in fish feed on behalf of the Norwegian Food Safety Authority (Matillsynet).

The committee concluded that fish feed containing the oil does not pose an increased health risk for fish or have any indications of increased environmental risk compared to conventional fish feed with oils from other sources.

Tolerance to pesticides

As well as being modified to produce omega-3 long-chain fatty acids, the canola contains a gene that confers tolerance to pesticides with glufosinate-ammonium, which is prohibited from being used in Norway. VKM stated that the protein that gives this tolerance has been assessed as safe by the EU’s food safety authority EFSA.

VKM further stated that any protein residues in Aquaterra rapeseed oil, including that which gives tolerance to glufosinate-ammonium, are negligible.

Matillsynet has ruled that Aquaterra and feed containing it must be labelled as containing GM ingredients, but that stipulation does not extend to the fish that eat the feed.

Target market

“Norway has always been a target market for Aquaterra omega-3 oil, and we are excited about the positive contribution to the industry,” said Benita Boettner, global general manager of Nuseed Nutritional.

“Advancing the seafood industry is essential because farmed fish are less resource intensive, with a lower-carbon impact than other proteins.”

Benita Boettner: "Norway has always been a target market for Aquaterra omega-3 oil."

Aquaterra has been approved in Norway for fish feed only, but Nuseed said its regulatory team is currently advancing separate applications for its Nutriterra ingredient for human food and Aquaterra for animal feed uses in the European Union and United Kingdom.

The company already has approvals for use in the United States, Canada, and Australia, and Aquaterra was commercially launched for use in Chilean salmon production in 2020.

Reduced FIFO ratio

In 2021, Aquaterra was certified for sustainable aquafeed production by accreditation body Friend of the Sea.

According to Nuseed, the inclusion of Aquaterra in aquafeed oil mix reduces Fish In: Fish Out (FIFO) ratios by as much as 62%, while improving the omega 3: omega 6 ratio and DHA:EPA fatty acid ratios.

Commercial-scale trials carried out on Atlantic salmon in Chile in 2018 and 2019 showed a decrease in mortality of the fish fed Aquaterra as part of their diet, with inclusions rates ranging from 1.49% to 1.90%.

California-based Nuseed has contracted farmers in Montana and North Dakota to grow its variety of GM canola in the US, and has pointed out that farmers in Canada, Australia and the US collectively grow more than 10 million hectares of canola annually, enabling a rapid scale-up in production if they switched to Nuseed’s GM crop.

The company says that a single hectare of its GM canola has the potential to produce the same amount of omega-3 oil as 10,000 fish each weighing a kilogram.

Leaders in the field

  • Nuseed's canola is not the only GM oilseed product aimed at producing omega-3 for the aquafeed market.
  • Feed producer Cargill also has a GM canola developed in conjunction with chemical company BASF that is used to produce its Latitude feed.
  • Nuseed’s canola predominantly produces the omega-3 fatty long chain acid DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), whereas the Cargill/BASF canola predominantly contains another omega-3 acid, EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid).
  • English agricultural institute Rothamsted Research has developed a GM version of the camelina plant, which is also an oilseed rape, although it has not yet been commercialised.
  • Rothamsted scientist Professor Johnathan Napier believes the camelina has superior composition, since its oil accumulates both EPA and DHA to around 10% each, whereas the canola products accumulate primarily only one or the other. Rothamsted’s camelina has also been engineered to incorporate astaxanthin, the natural pigment that gives salmon flesh its pink colour.
norway food safety authority aquaterra omega-3 gm canola news nuseed