If this Little Piggy Goes to Market – Will the Consumer Stay Home?

J0262733_1  A big story yesterday was centered on scientists making a genetically engineered pig that when eaten, rather than producing Omega-6 into your system, brought the sought after Omega-3.  Getting the benefits of salmon while eating pork chops!

It’s a nice thought, but does it play in Peoria?  What is scientifically possible is fun to know.  But, in the case of a pig posing as a salmon, one has to ask oneself if science is paying attention to the market.J0227654  People do get a little funny about eating genetic modification. 

When genetically modified milk was introduced, it produced a LOT of protest in the European Union as well as in the U.S. 

If a genetically altered pig is something that people want to eat in place of salmon, that’s fine.  Getting healthier eating outcomes and lowering cardiovascular risk is a noble effort. 

But it seems that before science ventures, at great cost and using resources that might be applied to other life-saving pursuits, it is perhaps prudent to determine if the market will embrace the outcome.  Or at least do some conditioning of the market before the news of the  modification is dropped on us. 

It would seem ashame if a little piglet went through all the trouble to get his genes modified only to find out no one wanted to eat him. 

This entry was posted in Food. Bookmark the permalink.