Genetically modified soy leghemoglobin used as food color additive approved in the US

Recently, the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the leghemoglobin as a food color additive is legitimate. This marks the end of a dispute between the Center for Food Safety (CFS) and Impossible Meat Inc., which arose from the use of genetically modified soy leghemoglobin as a food color additive to make vegetarian burgers more similar to meat-based burgers. CFS had appealed the FDA’s decision to approve the GM color additive because the regulators were accused of not using the proper standards to assess consumer health risks. FDA approved leghemoglobin because it  is a very common molecule in nature, and people already come into frequent contact with it without any health risks. However, CFS accused the regulators of failing to consider the source of the leghemoglobin, which is derived from genetically modified soy. "We are disappointed by the court's ruling today, which will allow Impossible Burger and other meatless burgers to be made with a novel genetically engineered chemical without conducting any long-term health studies,” stated Sylvia Wu, Center for Food Safety's senior attorney. “FDA is supposed to protect consumers from unsafe novel chemicals in our food supply, instead now consumers bear the burden of avoiding these GMO plant-based burgers."  

In response, Impossible Food’s Chief Communications Officer Rachel Konrad accused CFS to be “an anti-science, anti-GMO activist group that's been spreading lies for years,” and that Impossible Meats' products have been rigorously safe-tested and are completely health-risk free.  This FDA decision to not consider a new GM ingredient particularly hazardous comes from the United States’ long-standing position on GM food, which is very accommodating: according to USDA data, more than 90% of soy and corn consumed in the previous year were genetically modified varieties.    

Source:

http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/memoranda/2021/05/03/20-70747.pdf