The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Health Canada have approved Simplot’s genetically engineered Innate potato for sale throughout the country. The first generation of Innate potatoes have passed food safety assessments, and are considered as just as safe and healthy as unaltered spuds.
Idaho-based J.R. Simplot Company can start selling its Gen 1 Innate potatoes in Canada starting this year, CFIA and Health Canada have decided in two letters addressed to the company on March 18. The potatoes already received regulatory approvals in the U.S. last year and are sold under the White Russet brand.
Innate potatoes have the same nutritional composition as the regular variety, with the company citing reduced browning or bruising of the product compared to unaltered tubers, as well as lower levels of carcinogens when cooked.
“Our potato cuts acrylamide up to 62 percent, and a future generation will take up to 90 percent, making it virtually negligible, which is a really big deal in the potato world,” says Doug Cole, director of marketing and communications at Simplot.
Simplot was able to reduce bruising and browning of its potatoes by up to 44 percent by grafting genes from more resistant varieties such as Russet Burbank, Ranger Russet and Atlantic, into Innate’s genetic makeup. The potatoes also produce less polyphenol oxidase, which leaks from damaged plastids in bruised or cut potatoes, causing darkening and black spot.
This doesn’t seem like a big improvement until you consider how much food usually gets thrown out due to these effects.
“Consumers throw away about 30 percent of their potatoes either due to bruising or sprouting, so we’ve solved the bruising problem,” says Cole.
This genetic construct also lowers the expression of native genes that govern the production of asparagine and starch to reduce sugar conversion. Lower levels of these substances limit the potential for acrylamide formation when the potatoes are cooked at temperatures higher than 248 degrees Fahrenheit—such as in frying, baking or broiling. Based on studies on rats, the U.S. National Toxicology Program and the International Agency for Research on Cancer have identified acrylamide as a probable human carcinogen—although other studies found differences in acrylamide absorption speed between humans and rats.
Innate potatoes also easier and less wasteful to farm. Simplot said that if all Canadian fresh Russet potato crops had the traits of Innate, growers, processors and foodservice professionals could reduce waste at the field, storage, packing, retail and foodservice levels by some 880 million pounds. Carbon dioxide emissions would be cut by 66.1 million pounds, water usage reduced by 1.5 billion gallons, and 15,000 fewer pesticide hectare-applications would be needed, the company said.
This is bound to be a controversial decision. But all these traits led Kevin MacIsaac, general manager of United Potato Growers of Canada, to believe that Innate will attract a lot of commercial interests in the future, as it makes growing, cooking and storing much easier. Growers are already supportive of CFIA’s decision, welcoming it as a step forward.
“This is the reality: We need to use these technologies to help feed the world in a better way with less waste and less risk of carcinogenic effects,” Ontario potato producer Peter VanderZaag said.
Health Canada doesn’t require Innate potatoes to be labeled as “genetically engineered.” In the U.S., food packaging has to include details about the product’s website and a QR code for consumer information.
Source: ZME Science