Is Tilapia Genetically Modified or a Natural Fish?
There is nothing new about genetically modified food, since it has been around since the 90s. Researchers and companies are based on producing genes in a fish farm to speed up fish maturity and grow larger fish. Financial productivity is the key reason fish are being genetically modified. By genetically modifying farmed fish to grow larger and be shipped to the markets within a shorter period of time, companies want to raise and sell more productive fish.
Tilapia has never been caught in the wild, a common false assertion. In the Middle East and Africa, Tilapia was initially discovered in the wild. The bulk of tilapia sold in the United States is mass-produced at an industrial fish farm due to high demand.
Farming activities include more species of fish, such as catfish, trout, striped bass, flounder, and even salmon species. These fish types are built to have profitable characteristics: faster growth, healthier bodies and larger muscles. Such characteristics will make a perfect output, but consider how this can be produced. The genes of engineered fish come from other fish, corals, mice, bacteria, and even people. Tilapia farming is not a production that will be appreciated or accepted by all, but it is happening worldwide.
In 2015, the AquAdvantage Salmon, produced by AquaBounty Technologies, was approved by the FDA. Also, trout and tilapia are genetically modified. Some individuals were not persuaded that it was secure, so there was a budget bill that prohibited GE salmon from being imported into the United States. AquaBounty bought a fish farm in Indiana in 2017, but it took a long time to reverse the bill successfully.
In May, AquBounty’s Indiana salmon farm became the first genetically modified animal approved by the FDA for safe consumption in the United States. The business will now transport the eggs from Canada and begin the practise of fish farming. The salmon will not be in the stores until late 2020, as they have just started raising the first batch of tilapia fillets. I foresee clearance in the coming years for the raising and sale of other fish species in the United States.
Is Tilapia a Healthy Protein Source?
The health precautions you should take when eating farm-raised tilapia were checked in a 2008 study, especially if you eat fish to control swelling or inflammation. There are suggestions that the hamburger and pork bacon swelling potential is smaller than the average farmed tilapia serving, but that does not mean that it is worse to eat tilapia. There is evidence that indicates that a better alternative than hamburgers and bacon is indeed tilapia.
It is all about higher omega-3 fatty acid levels and lower levels of omega-6 fatty acids and saturated fats that are potentially inflammatory. Tilapia and catfish, unlike Atlantic salmon and trout, have lower omega-3 fatty acid levels and higher omega-6 fatty acid ratios, based on the samples tested.
People typically eat fish to reduce cholesterol levels, but this only works in moderation. You should eat at least two servings of fish a week and heart patients should eat at least one gramme a day in order to obtain nutritional benefits such as omega-3 fatty acids from fish. However, if you eat more than the recommended serving of tilapia or any fish, it can do more harm than good.
The fishing industry has produced fish with fatty acid characteristics in the past decade, which the health care community says are inflammatory. With that said, the cumulative effects of eating GE fish on human health are undetermined.
