Somebody in France Probably Ate a Lamb Genetically Modified to Have a Jellyfish Gene

France is renowned for its haute cuisine, but the news that a sheep carrying a jellyfish gene was mistakenly slaughtered and likely ended up on somebody's plate might be enough to ruin the country's appetite for lamb chops.

The genetically modified meat was unintentionally made available for sale several months ago, French daily Le Parisian revealed Tuesday. Rubis, a ewe carrying a jellyfish gene called Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP), was reportedly sent to the abattoir in August 2014 with a flock of non-GMO animals, even though she was supposed to remain in the laboratories of INRA, France's national institute of agronomical research.

A slaughterhouse in the Paris area sold Rubis' carcass to a private individual at the end of October 2014. It's unclear who purchased and presumably ate the meat, since those sales aren't tracked. The INRA said the animal was classified as a "Group 1 genetically modified microorganism," which means "the risk posed to human and environmental health is nil or negligible."

Jean-Christophe Pagès, the president of France's High Council of Biotechnology, told VICE News that the accidental sale was "the first incident of this sort to happen in France."

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Rubis was meant to aid in researching human cardiovascular problems as part of the "Green Sheep" program, created in 2009 by the UECA animal research unit of the INRA. Scientists inserted the jellyfish protein into Rubis' mother Émeraude to give the animal a fluorescent color and make its skin transparent. According to the INRA, the experiment was intended to assess the viability of cell transplantation in heart attack victims.

Émeraude gave birth to several lambs, including Rubis, in spring 2014. The INRA told VICE News that "the lamb was indeed a carrier of the gene transmitted by its mother, but the GFP protein wasn't expressed in her body, so Rubis' skin was neither fluorescent nor transparent."

At some point, an INRA official put Rubis in a group of animals to be sent to the slaughterhouse, an action that currently remains unexplained. A second official, a supervisor, approved the delivery without any knowledge that Rubis was part of the lot. The supervisor eventually figured out what happened but decided not to raise the alarm "in anticipation of his being granted tenure," anonymous sources told Le Parisien.

Instead, the supervisor waited until November 2014 — after the genetically modified meat had left the slaughterhouse — to notify his superiors, who then began an internal administrative investigation. Prosecutors have referred the case to the criminal court in Paris, meaning criminal charges could be filed.

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Stéphane Le Foll, the French minister of agriculture, described the case as "unacceptable" on radio news channel France Info. Le Foll said "deliberate malevolence" is suspected in the case, and asked the INRA for an "action plan" to "prevent this from happening again."

France, like all other countries in Europe, has not authorized the sale of meat from genetically modified animals. If such a request were made, Pagès said, "the European Union would decide, but each state would be able to refuse to import meat from genetically modified animals on pretext of sanitary, environmental, and socio-economic principles." No request of this sort has been put forward, he noted.

Follow Matthieu Jublin on Twitter: @MatthieuJublin

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Photo via Flickr/Dominique Ariberti