Canada: Genetically Modified Pork to Hit Stores Without Labelling

Byadmin

Jan 27, 2026

Genetically Modified Animals

Update – January 23, 2026: Health Canada has approved a gene-edited pig for human consumption but the meat from these genetically engineered (genetically modified or GM) animals will not be labelled for consumers. The GM animals are not yet on the market.

There are no genetically modified (GM or genetically engineered) animals sold as food in Canada. The first, and so far only, GM food animal on the market was a GM Atlantic salmon sold in Canada 2017-2024 but production has been shut down.

Group opposes Health Canada’s approval of gene-edited meat

 Government permits grocery stores to sell unlabelled genetically engineered pork

January 25, 2026. (Halifax) The Canadian Biotechnology Action Network opposes Health Canada’s approval of gene-edited pigs for human consumption.

“If gene-edited pigs actually get produced and sold, Canadians won’t know if the meat in their grocery cart is from these genetically engineered animals,” said Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator for the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network. “Health Canada has approved meat from gene-edited pigs without any requirement to label it.”

There is no mandatory labelling of genetically engineered (genetically modified) foods in Canada, though an October 2025 national public opinion poll found that 83% of Canadians want mandatory labelling.

“There is a transparency crisis in our food system,” said Sharratt. “If the government is going to allow companies to produce genetically engineered animals and plants, these foods have to be labelled for consumers.”

The pigs are genetically engineered using the gene editing technique of CRISPR to make the animals resistant to the common Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRS). The animals were genetically engineered by the large global animal genetics company Genus PLC. It’s subsidiary the Pig Improvement Company (PIC), based in the UK, is promoting the product.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the same gene-edited pig in April 2025, and the company says it is also seeking approval in Mexico and Japan.

There are no genetically engineered animals currently produced or sold in Canada. In 2017, Canadians were the first in the world to eat a genetically engineered food animal, a genetically engineered Atlantic salmon, but production was stopped in 2024.

In December 2025, Health Canada paused a decision to allow meat from cloned animals onto the market without safety assessments and labelling, naming “significant input” from the public and industry as the reason.

Unlike gene-edited animals, gene-edited crop plants will not be assessed for food safety by Health Canada.

The Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, or CBAN, brings together 14 groups including farmer associations, environmental and social justice organizations, and regional coalitions of grassroots groups. CBAN, a project of the MakeWay Charitable Society, has been monitoring issues related to genetic engineering in food and farming since 2007.

For more information:
Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator, Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, coordinator@cban.ca 902 209 4906 www.cban.ca/animals

Demand: Label GM Foods: Gene-edited pig

January 24, 2026: Health Canada has just approved a gene-edited pig for human consumption but the meat from these genetically engineered (genetically modified or GM) animals will not be labelled for consumers.

Demand mandatory labelling of GM foods in Canada. All foods from genetically modified plants and animals needs to be labelled, this should include the new genetic engineering techniques of gene-editing. A public opinion poll in October 2025 found that 83% of Canadians want mandatory labelling. Help advocate for transparency and choice in our food system.

1) Use the form on this page to send your instant letter to the Minister of Health and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

2) To take even more effective action, you can take a few easy steps to write your own letter directly to your Member of Parliament:

Look up your MP’s email or phone number using your postal code at the House of Commons website ourcommons.ca
Call or email your MP to ask them to support mandatory labelling of all genetically engineered foods including foods created with the new genetically engineered techniques of gene editing.
- Tell your MP that you want transparency and choice in the grocery store.
- Tell your MP that you want to know which foods in the grocery store are genetically engineered.
- This action is especially urgent because Health Canada has just approved a gene-edited pig, and some gene-edited fruits and vegetables could soon be on the market without having been reviewed for safety by Health Canada.
You can attach CBAN’s information on the need to reinstate regulation for gene-edited foods. Click here to download it.
You can attach CBAN’s background information on gene editing. Click here to download it.
If you would like more support or have questions please email us at info@cban.ca.

Thank you for taking this important action.

For more information see cban.ca/labelling or cban.ca/animals

Shared from
CBAN Press Release – January 25, 2026: Group opposes Health Canada’s approval of gene-edited meat .
Take Action: Click here to demand mandatory labelling.

Gene-edited Pigs May Soon Enter The Canadian Food Market!! I Wonder What Could Go Wrong??

Support Dan Dicks send an e-transfer to dan@pressfortruth.ca
If you’re old fashioned like we are and prefer to keep it old school, we also accept cash, cheques, equipment and words of encouragement! You can send us those things here:
Dan Dicks P.O. Box 1521 Squamish BC V8B 0B1

The Canadian government is currently considering approving the entry of gene-edited pigs into the food system! Using the technology known as CRISPR they hope to create pigs that will be resistant to PRRS (porcine reproductive respiratory syndrome).

In this video Dan Dicks of Press For Truth explains why playing God in this way is incredibly dangerous and will inevitably lead to more problems than we already have while also discussing the importance having a self sustainable food source that is outside of the clutches of those who want to control our food!

Is There a Future for GE Animals?

September 23, 2025 – Genetically engineered salmon ended in 2024 after public pushback; now a gene-edited pig is under review as labelling debates rise.

Production of the world’s first genetically engineered food animal, a GE salmon, ended in 2024 after twenty years of protest in Canada. In 2012, the introduction of the GE “Enviropig” was stopped because of consumer and farmer opposition, but a new GE pig is on the horizon.

Thus far, the use of genetically engineered (GE or genetically modified) animals in Canada has been stopped by public protest and consumer rejection. However, the question of who determines the future of genetic engineering, and based on what considerations, is still wide open, as Health Canada is considering a gene-edited pig for human consumption.

GE salmon goes belly-up

After seven years, the production of genetically engineered Atlantic salmon by US-based biotechnology company AquaBounty ended in 2024. This was the first GE food animal on the market anywhere in the world, and people in Canada were the first to eat it. Despite the lack of labelling to help consumers choose, the market rejected GE salmon.

The Atlantic salmon was genetically engineered with genetic material from chinook salmon and ocean pout, with a claim to grow faster. It was first sold in Canada in 2017, produced in Panama. Starting in 2021, it was produced by AquaBounty at on-land “tank farms” in Prince Edward Island and Indiana in the United States.

All these fish farms are now sold and there is no GE salmon being produced anywhere. In March 2024, Cooke Aquaculture bought AquaBounty’s PEI facilities but said, “Cooke does not farm or sell any GE seafood products and has no plans to do so with this acquisition.”

Speaking about AquaBounty’s demise, Sharon Labchuk of the coalition GMO Free PEI said, “We’re glad to see the back of this company after over twenty years of our protests against genetically modified food.” Labchuk first protested the GE salmon in 2001 and continued to work with community groups who opposed the GE fish and the ongoing government funding for the company.

The GE salmon was produced on land but a major concern was the potential, however slim, of escape into the wild, especially as AquaBounty expanded production to new sites. Escape would have put endangered Atlantic salmon at risk of genetic contamination or competition from GE salmon.

“The development of GE salmon violates wild salmon and all the human and more-than-human communities that wild salmon support,” said Carl Wassilie, a Yup’ik biologist, co-founder of Salmonberry Tribal Associates and organizer with the Block Corporate Salmon campaign. “Wild salmon underpin our cultural, spiritual, emotional, and physical wellbeing as Indigenous Salmon Peoples. We need to build on this victory to ensure that no other company takes up the colonial project of genetically engineering salmon.”

The GE salmon was stopped, but this does not mean an end to GE animals.

This little piggy didn’t go to market

Back in 2011, the GE “Enviropig” was poised to be the first GE food animal in the world. It was developed at the University of Guelph in Ontario but, in 2012, as a result of farmer and consumer protest, the hog producers’ association Ontario Pork stopped funding the research and the university shut down their commercial pursuit.

The pig was genetically engineered with genetic material from a mouse to reduce the amount of phosphorus in the pig’s feces. Excess phosphorus is a pollution problem created by large factory farms, a problem that already has many solutions.

A large banner read “UofGE: Changing Pigs, Selling Life” which was a spoof of the University of Guelph’s slogan “Changing Lives, Improving Life.”

In February 2010, Environment Canada approved production of Enviropig™, but in March 2010, the National Farmers Union (NFU) Ontario passed a resolution opposing its use and asking that “these financial resources be redirected to research that fits the real needs of hog producers.”

Unlabelled GE meat threatened to trigger a consumer backlash. Sean McGivern of NFU Ontario and a hog and cattle producer, said, “This GE pig could ruin the trust Canadians have in our pork…. It’s down to the University of Guelph to cancel their request for approval. This is the only way to protect our markets.”

Public opposition culminated in February 2011 at a “Pig Rally” at the university. Protesters wore pig snouts and held signs saying, for example, “No GM Pork on My Fork.” A large banner read “UofGE: Changing Pigs, Selling Life” which was a spoof of the UofG’s slogan “Changing Lives, Improving Life.”

The “co-inventor” of Enviropig™, professor Cecil Forsberg, told the New York Times that, “I had the feeling in seven or eight or nine years that transgenic animals probably would be acceptable. But I was wrong. It’s time to stop the program until the rest of the world catches up.” In 2025, has the world “caught up?”

This next little GE piggy?

Because people in Canada have never been consulted about genetic engineering in our food system, important questions remain unasked and many voices unheard. At a 2024 event at the University of Alberta, Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, was asked about genetic engineering and said, “These tools that fundamentally change the identity of the genetic sovereignty of our plant and animal relatives are ethically challenging.”

Despite the ongoing controversy and unresolved issues, Canadian regulators are now assessing the safety of another genetically engineered pig, engineered with the gene editing technique of CRISPR to be resistant to most strains of a costly pig virus. At the same time, the public demand for mandatory GE food labelling in Canada is heating up again. See www.cban.ca/labelling for updates and action.

Lucy Sharratt is Coordinator of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN), a project of the MakeWay Charitable Society.

Genetically Engineered “Purple Tomato” Seeds & Fruit Approved in Canada

A genetically engineered (genetically modified or GM) tomato, trademarked The Purple Tomato™, has been approved in Canada. The seeds are now for sale online for home gardeners and the tomatoes could be sold in grocery stores at any time.
This is a GM tomato with deep purple skin and flesh.

The “Purple Tomato” (Del/Ros1-N) was genetically engineered with two genes from snapdragon flowers to increase the plant’s anthocyanin production, which also makes the tomato purple. Anthocyanins are a type of flavonoid that has antioxidant properties. They also give fruits and vegetables like blueberries, eggplants and some traditionally bred purple tomatoes their vibrant colours.

This is the first GM tomato approved for growing in Canada and, if sold in grocery stores, it would be the first GM tomato in Canadian produce sections since Monsanto removed the Flavr Savr™ tomato from the market in 1997.

The sale of GM garden seeds constitutes a direct attack on organic food and farming, and a threat to Canada’s seed supply. If genetically modified garden seeds are sold, there is a high likelihood they will contaminate seed stocks and end up, unwanted, in gardens and on farms across Canada.

Read this newsletter:

Alert-Genetically-Modified-Purple-Tomato Download

CRISPR Crunch: Regulation to go missing for next generation GMOs?

Health Canada wants to exempt some genome-edited products from safety assessments – even while genome editing techniques are known to result in a range of unintended effects.
Read more here https://watershedsentinel.ca/article/the-crispr-crunch-regulation-to-go-missing-for-next-generation-gmos/