Canada’s federal health and agricultural safety agencies have completed formal evaluations of a type of pig that has been genetically modified to resist porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, a disease that causes substantial losses in commercial swine production and impacts producers’ costs. 

The regulatory process covered both food products and livestock feed ingredients derived from the animals and concluded that these products are as safe and nutritious as those from conventional pigs already on the market.

The swine were developed through precise genetic editing that alters a specific part of a protein used by the virus to infect pig cells, rendering the animals resistant to the disease. Tests and scientific submissions showed that the altered protein in these pigs functions normally in all other respects and does not introduce new risks to animal health or the food supply. 

The modified animals were assessed across generations to confirm that the genetic change is stable and does not produce unintended effects on carcass quality, nutrient composition, or common measures of health and growth compared with non-edited pigs. 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency completed an assessment under the country’s Feeds Regulations and authorized use of feed ingredients derived from these pigs on the basis that they are substantially equivalent in safety and nutritional value to existing livestock feed components derived from swine. 

In parallel, Health Canada reviewed food safety and nutritional data and determined that food products made from the disease-resistant swine meet the same standards applied to all pork products sold in Canada. 

Environmental impacts were part of the regulatory consideration and authorities determined that the use of feed ingredients from the modified pigs would not present greater risk to the environment than conventional feed sources. 

The approval does not create separate labelling requirements under current food standards but does require that any new scientific information affecting safety or environmental risk be reported and could prompt a reassessment. 

Broader commercial use will depend on market access in export destinations and compliance with international sanitary and phytosanitary rules, which vary among trading partners. This regulatory decision represents a key step in the potential introduction of gene-edited livestock into the Canadian food system, following other jurisdictions that have reviewed similar technologies.