Scientists have successfully inserted a gene from an ocean worm into pigs, creating a new kind of swine that produces high levels of a nutrient-rich oil found primarily in fish.

The results offer a potential new strategy for producing meat high in the beneficial Omega-3 fatty acids and to establish a model for studying the biological effects of the nutrient.

Omega-3 fatty acids are found in abundance in fatty fish such as tuna and salmon, as well as some vegetable sources such as the seeds of hemp and flax.

They are considered a critical nutrient for human brain development, heart function and a healthy immune system. But the compound cannot be synthesized in the body and must be obtained from food.

Scientists have long claimed that we're getting too much of the more-common omega-6 fatty acid -- present in cereals, eggs, poultry and whole-grain breads. Mammals, however, can't covert omega-6 fatty acid into the healthier omega-3.

Although animals fed with enriched feed can produce omega-3 enhanced eggs and milk, scientists thought nature needed an alternative source of the oil.

So Yifan Dai of the University of Pittsburg School of Medicine explained that scientists took a gene from an ocean roundworm -- which converts omega-6 into omega-3 -- and simply transferred it into a pig cell.

"Then we cloned the pig from this transient pig cell," he told CTV News.

Dr. Randall Prather, professor of reproductive biotechnology at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said this method resulted in much higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids compared to what would be produced as a result of enriched feeds.

"We look forward in the future sometime when the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) would approve something like this into the food chain," said Prather, "and to be able to have pork that has high levels of omega-3 fatty acids that would be very healthy to consume."

Researchers say the development will also help them study how this nutrient prevents disease in people, as well as provide a safer source of the compound.

Fish that contain significant amounts of omega-3 are contaminated with toxins such as cancer-causing mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls due to water pollution.

"Also, the fish supply is declining, so maybe we need to find a different source for omega-3s," said Dai.

Critics, however, warn that the finding should not deter the scientific community from the larger problem of pollution

"Whatever the health benefits of the pigs, we can't use it as an excuse to avoid cleaning up our oceans," said Steven Price of the World Wildlife Fund.

The scientists aren't the only ones to conduct such an experience. In 2004, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital successfully added the worm gene to mice.

It's now up to federal regulators to decide if the pigs are up to snuff for the consumer market, and whether the world is ready for omega-3 pork.

The results of the study will be published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

With a report by CTV's medical correspondent Avis Favaro