{"id":430029,"date":"2025-09-17T00:42:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T00:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/430029\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T00:42:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T00:42:20","slug":"how-gene-editing-is-changing-the-meat-in-our-diet-from-fast-growing-fish-to-heat-tolerant-cows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/430029\/","title":{"rendered":"How gene editing is changing the meat in our diet, from fast-growing fish to heat-tolerant cows"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you wonder where your meat comes from? Maybe it is organic, wild harvested, or farmed.<\/p>\n

Or perhaps it was designed in a lab.<\/p>\n

Faster-growing fish, heat-tolerant cows and disease-resistant pigs are among a new class of animals that are being genetically engineered for the dining table.<\/p>\n

In the past six years, several gene-edited animals have been approved for consumption in Japan, the US and several South American countries.<\/p>\n

And similar meat products could soon be sold in Australia without lengthy regulatory testing or labels indicating what DNA alterations have been made.<\/p>\n

That is because of recent changes to how Australia’s food regulator defines “genetic modification”<\/a>, which have come in response to technological advances.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

The adoption of new gene-editing technology into Australia’s food production systems has the potential to speed up traditional breeding of animals and plants by decades.<\/p>\n

Mark Tizard, a principal research scientist at the CSIRO’s division of health and biosecurity, said a new era was dawning for animal biotechnology and genetic editing.<\/p>\n

“There’s going to be much more of it and it’s really important \u2026 it’s done in a way that shows value to the consumer,” he said.<\/p>\n

“That it has a benefit for them and that it’s safe.”<\/p>\n

What are genetic engineering, editing and GMOs?<\/p>\n

Genetic engineering uses technology to modify or alter an organism’s genes, and it has been around since the 1970s.<\/p>\n

The first genetically modified organism (GMO) was created when scientists moved a gene belonging to one bacterium into a different bacterium. Genes that are moved from one organism to another are called transgenes.<\/p>\n

But with early technology, it was not clear where transgenes would wind up when moved into another organism, said Alison Van Eenennaam, a professor of animal biotechnology and genetics at the University of California, Davis.<\/p>\n

“Typically, that was being done to give that organism \u2026 a novel characteristic or trait, like insect resistance,” she said.<\/p>\n

“What was different about that technology was you were introducing typically a protein from a different species.”<\/p>\n

Scientists had to make sure that when the GMO tried to produce that protein itself, it “wasn’t a toxin or allergen”, Professor Van Eenennaam said.<\/p>\n

The federal government first set up a watchdog, the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, in 2001 to make sure GMO products were safe.<\/p>\n

\"Animal<\/p>\n

Animal scientist and biotechnologist Alison Van Eenennaam with two bulls that had their genes edited using CRISPR technology. (Supplied: Aleksandra Domanovi\u0107 and Spencer Lowell, University of California, Davis)<\/p>\n

But in the past two decades, gene technology has rapidly advanced. Today, there are tools such as guided nucleases, which, according to Professor Van Eenennaam, are like “molecular scissors” that cut DNA.<\/p>\n

DNA is essentially a set of instructions that tell the body’s cells how to function. Genes are smaller segments of DNA controlling specific functions.<\/p>\n

“Because you have such precision in where [the technology] makes that break, you can go in and tweak a gene.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This process is commonly referred to as “genetic editing”.<\/p>\n

Professor Van Eenennaam said, with genetic editing, scientists could even turn off genes that were susceptible to disease.<\/p>\n

“If you can inactivate that gene, it can maybe make [an organism] resistant to a particular virus,” she said.<\/p>\n

A tectonic shift occurred in the field in 2012 when scientists Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna demonstrated the potential of the gene editing tool CRISPR-Cas9.<\/p>\n

\"CRISPR-Cas9<\/p>\n

CRISPR comprises a single molecule of RNA (shown in purple) that performs two jobs; one end binds to the target gene (dark red), the other end delivers a DNA-cutting enzyme (in this case, Cas9) to the site. (ABC)<\/p>\n

The pair went on to win a Nobel Prize in chemistry, and CRISPR is now the most-used precision gene editing tool in the world, with many medical and agricultural uses.<\/p>\n

In 2019, Professor Doudna predicted the first gene-edited foods would be sold to the public within five years.<\/p>\n

She only had to wait two years before a gene-edited tomato and a fish went on sale in Japan.<\/p>\n

What animals have been gene-edited for food?<\/p>\n

The first gene-edited fish was a red seabream (Pagrus major), raised in land-based aquaculture, which was altered to have 1.2 to 1.6 times more meat than an unedited bream (while eating the same amount of food).<\/p>\n

This was done by effectively turning off a gene in the fish called myostatin, which usually limits muscle growth.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Red seabream with the gene myostatin turned off was the first genetically edited animal species to go on sale in the world. (Supplied: Gakken Inc)<\/p>\n

Japan’s food regulator did not consider the process to be genetic modification, so the fish was able to quickly enter the market three years after the first experiments were published in a scientific journal.<\/p>\n

The Kyoto University researcher behind the altered red seabream started a company that now also sells edited olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) and tiger puffer fish (Takifugu rubripes), otherwise known as fugu.<\/p>\n

Using gene editing, the Japanese company disrupts a protein in both fish that regulates appetite, so the fish eat more.<\/p>\n

In the case of the edited pufferfish, the company says it grows much quicker than and almost twice as heavy as unedited fugu.<\/p>\n

Brazil has also approved a genetically edited fish, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), which, similarly, has had its myostatin gene turned off, although it has not yet gone on sale.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

A company in Brazil has turned off the myostatin gene in Nile tilapia, which is the second most farmed species of fish in the world, with a clear difference in a regular fish (left) and an edited one (right). (Supplied: Brazilian Fish)<\/p>\n

Other animal species that have been gene-edited and approved for consumption in the US and South America include pigs which have had a gene deleted that made the animals susceptible to a respiratory disease.<\/p>\n

Several countries are also allowing the sale of cattle that are edited to have a “SLICK” gene, which gives them shorter coats of hair that make them better equipped to cope in hotter weather.<\/p>\n

And there is plenty more agricultural research into animal gene editing happening around the world, particularly in China, says Professor Van Eenennaam.<\/p>\n

“It’s very clear that the [Chinese] government there is investing in this technology and developing this technology,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Having said that, there’s no approved products on the market in China.”<\/p>\n

What is happening in Australia?<\/p>\n

Australian rules on genetic engineering, set by the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, have allowed forms of genetic editing on animals for several years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But in Australia, any food products that are genetically engineered have been required to go through a separate regulatory process under the food safety watchdog \u2014 until recently.<\/p>\n

On September 2, Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) changed its rules. Now, food that has been genetically edited \u2014 perhaps with a couple of genes switched off \u2014 but has had no new DNA introduced are not required to be regulated as GMOs.<\/p>\n

That is because such changes are seen as something that could occur naturally in the wild (ie random genetic mutations) without human interference.<\/p>\n

FSANZ now only considers food from animals and plants to be genetically modified if DNA from another unrelated organism is added (which subjects them to extra regulation).<\/p>\n

So far, there is a handful of agricultural gene editing projects underway in Australia.<\/p>\n

Scientists at Murdoch University are currently trialling the use of CRISPR to turn genes on and off in barley crops to make varieties that require less fertiliser.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

CSIRO scientists Tim Doran and Mark Tizard who came up with a genetic solution to the culling of day-old male chicks in the egg-laying industry. (ABC News: Caitlyn Gribbin)<\/p>\n

CSIRO’s Mark Tizard said the science agency had also been in discussions with farmers around the technology’s possibilities for cattle.<\/p>\n

He said something like gene-edited fish had the potential to work in Australia.<\/p>\n

“We would really need to take a look at what industry is asking for,” Dr Tizard, a senior scientist in genome engineering, said.<\/p>\n

“It might even be that certain fish \u2026 that are not yet at the level of being really good, commercially viable options, could be brought to that level with some kind of editing.”<\/p>\n

Dr Tizard has also been working on commercialising genetically engineered chickens to stop the culling of millions of males in egg-laying operations.<\/p>\n

His team recently developed genetically modified chickens with a red fluorescent gene (so they can be identified with a laser through their shell) that is passed onto males but not female hens.<\/p>\n

That way, the males, which are usually culled immediately after they are born, can be removed from production before they develop and hatch.<\/p>\n

How do Australians feel about genetic engineering?<\/p>\n

Rachel Ankeny, from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, has run studies for Australia’s food and genetics regulators as well as agricultural industry groups such as Meat and Livestock Australia.<\/p>\n

She said Australians did not see a huge difference between genetic editing and genetic modification.<\/p>\n

“To the average person, they sound relatively similar,” Professor Ankeny said.<\/p>\n

“In the last few years, we’re seeing a lot more concern about the financial impacts of the grocery bill and everything else in everyday life.<\/p>\n

“And in some hypothetical world, where perhaps gene editing might improve those things \u2026 probably people would have no problem.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The cost of food staples has risen sharply since 2010 in Australia. (ABC North Qld: Georgia Loney)<\/p>\n

Professor Ankeny said one of the key issues that came up in focus groups about genetic engineering was around who was benefiting.<\/p>\n

“The main concern is that they’re designed just to make profit and they’re not designed because of nutrition,” she said.<\/p>\n

But climate change could be a game changer for attitudes towards genetic engineering.<\/p>\n

Professor Ankeny said making changes to crops to cope with climate change could be an acceptable use of genetic engineering to the public.<\/p>\n

“So long as the rationale is made transparent,” she said.<\/p>\n

She noted, however, there were some concern among people in focus groups that gene-edited animals \u2014 such as cows better able to deal with heat \u2014 might be subjected to tougher conditions.<\/p>\n

But Alison Van Eenennaam hopes consumers will get on board with genetic editing as a way of addressing sustainability and climate-related food issues.<\/p>\n

“I really do believe that innovation is important for agricultural production,” she said.<\/p>\n

“And it’s the only way we’re going to be able to address some of the problems that are coming down the pipe at us.”<\/p>\n

Listen to the <\/strong>full episode of Artificial Evolution about gene editing animals for food<\/strong><\/a>, and <\/strong>follow the podcast for more<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Do you wonder where your meat comes from? Maybe it is organic, wild harvested, or farmed. Or perhaps…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3846],"tags":[14192,146466,146464,146463,146465,267,70,16,15,146462,146461,146458,146460,146459],"class_list":{"0":"post-430029","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-genetics","8":"tag-crispr","9":"tag-crispr-cas9","10":"tag-genetically-edited-cow","11":"tag-genetically-edited-fish","12":"tag-genetically-edited-pig","13":"tag-genetics","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-what-animals-are-genetically-edited","18":"tag-what-genetic-editing-is-happening-in-australia","19":"tag-what-is-genetic-editing","20":"tag-what-is-genetic-engineering","21":"tag-what-is-genetic-modification"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115216866041335922","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}