In contrast to Europe’s more conservative approach,, Japan has been more welcoming of gene-editing technology. In 2021, Japan’s government approved three gene-edited foods for commercial sale: a tomato with increased GABA content and two fish with faster growth and higher yield than their conventional counterparts.

The stance has opened up the market for gene-edited fish, such as the two that were approved for sale in 2021. The two fish are a red sea bream lacking a myostatin gene which suppresses muscle growth, and a tiger pufferfish with its genes that control appetite removed. Both of the new fish were gene-edited using CRISPR gene-editing technology.

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The genome-edited tiger pufferfish grows faster and achieves a 90 percent increase in weight over the conventional puffer in the same farming period. This allows a shortening of the farming period from the conventional two years. Sliced pufferfish sets are sold through the website in a variety of sizes and prices.

While faster weight gain and increased yield have been the goals of most gene-edited fish so far, other traits, such as disease resistance, are also possible. Plus, although the ease of use of the CRISPR-Cas9 system has been the trigger for an explosion in gene-editing, it is not the only choice for gene-editing, nor always the best.

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