September 17/Washington/UPI -- Ice cream maker Ben & Jerry's has joined the debate in Washington over genetically modified salmon, observers said.

Speaking at a Washington protest Thursday, Ben & Jerry's CEO Jostein Solheim said his company will not use products consumers are not interested in buying, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. News reported.

"Most Americans do not want to eat food made from genetically engineered animals . . . Ben & Jerry's certainly has no interest in using foods from animals that are genetically engineered in our product," Solheim said.

"Today, it's a fish that we're talking about, but very soon, it will be a genetically engineered pig, a chicken, even, God forbid, our beloved cows," he said.

The protest in Washington was organized by people opposed to the genetically modified salmon produced by Canadian company Aqua Bounty at its facility near Prince Edward Island.

Aqua Bounty is approaching the end of a long process to have its genetically modified salmon approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

A coalition of groups from both the U.S. and Canada organized the Washington rally.

A report by scientists from the FDA concluded the Aqua Bounty salmon, engineered to grow at twice the normal rate, are not significantly different from other salmon as a food.

The FDA is holding public hearings on the fish this week.

From the October 4, 2010, Prepared Foods E-dition