Bay Area Shoppers Approve Trader Joe’s & Whole Foods Rejecting GMO Salmon

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) — As the Food and Drug administration is expected to approve the sale of genetically-modified salmon, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods Market said they won’t sell the fish.

The refusal by the two stores sat well with many of the customers at the Trader Joe’s at Hyde and California streets in San Francisco. Some expressed a desire to keep genetically modified food items separate from what they consider real food, adding that they were uneasy about not knowing what’s in genetically modified foods.

Salmon producer AquaBounty said their salmon is safe and doesn’t look any different than wild, Atlantic or Pacific varieties. The genetically reformulated fish is designed to grow twice as fast, which they said doesn’t bother some shoppers.