The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is welcoming proposals for food and medicine made from genetically engineered animals and will come up with rules for such products to ensure public and animal health.

The move announced Thursday paves way for such company as Boston-based Aqua Bounty Technologies to get approval in producing and selling its faster-growing salmon. The firm has the technology to transfer DNA from a fast-growing eel-like fish to the genes of salmon to make the fish grow in one year instead of three years.

Larisa Rudenko, a science policy adviser with the FDA's veterinary medicine center, defended the agency's new policy saying genetic engineering of animals has long been practiced.

Reacting to the FDA announcement, the Consumers Union said genetically altered food must be properly labeled.