AquaBounty Technologies leaps as Canada approves GM salmon

Shares in AIM-listed AquaBounty Technologies surged on Friday after the biotechnology group said Health Canada has concluded that its genetically-modified salmon was safe to eat and approved its sale in Canada.

Canada is now the second country to OK AquaBounty’s AquAdvantage Salmon (AAS) after the US Food and Drug Administration approved it last year.

In addition, the company said the Animal Feed Division of the Animal Health Directorate of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has determined that feed ingredients derived from AAS do not present livestock feed safety or nutrition concerns when compared with feeds from other permitted salmon to be used as livestock feed in Canada.

Chief executive Ronald L. Stotish said: "We are pleased to receive the approvals of the various authorities of Canada, which means we can produce, sell and eat our AquAdvantage Salmon in Canada.

"Alongside the approval by the FDA in November 2015, there are now two independent reviews by two of the most sophisticated and demanding regulators in the world and both have come to the same conclusion.”

At 1014 BST, shares were up 221% to 43.35p.