The offspring of pigs genetically modified for increased milk production and increased production of the insulin-like growth factor 1 were sold to a livestock dealer by University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign researchers and may have entered the food supply, the Food and Drug Administration reported in February.

FDA investigators concluded that although there was no public-health risk, the sale violated the agency's requirements for the study. An inspection at the research facility turned up evidence that 386 pigs were sold between April 2001 and January 2003. The researchers told investigators that the offspring did not inherit inserted genetic material from their parents. However, because the researchers did not conduct sufficient evaluation or keep proper records, the FDA cannot verify the claim.

Because the parents were engineered to express the genetic changes only in the mammary glands of lactating sows, and none of the pigs sent to slaughter were old enough to have been lactating, the FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture would not have recalled products made from these animals.

Natural Foods Merchandiser volume XXIV/number 3/p. 22