On Wednesday, the FDAย announced that they hadย approved the second generation ofย Simplot’sย Innateย potato. The federal agency concluded that these new potatoes are “not materially different in composition, safety, and other relevant parameters, from any other potato or potato-derived food or feed currently on the market.”
The announcement represents the second major regulatory hurdle for the latest iteration of the GMO potato as the USDA deregulated the crop in August of 2015. The FDA’s move is yet another success for the potato line, which has seen recent progress towardsย acceptance in American markets.
In all, 2015 was a very successful year for the GMO potato. In March, FDA approval served as the final regulatory hurdle for the sale ofย the first generation of the crop. Aboutย 400 acres of the potatoย were planted and sold, mostly asย fresh whole vegetable, in about 1,000 retail markets across 11 states โ mostly midwest and southeast โ over the summerย of 2015. The company ramped up planting of the crops to 1,000 acres for sale this coming summer, while their plan currently is to plantย 6,000 acres this summer for sale in 2017.
The idea behind theย Innateย potato was to eliminateย waste, while also reducing the amount of a carcinogen that is produced when the potato is fried. By creating and insertingย gene sequences that wereย derived fromย wild (hence the name choice of “innate”) and other cultivated potatoes, the researchers were able to silence (i.e. turn off) fourย different genes in the adult potato. The result is a potato that does not bruise or brown, and has less of the compound acrylamide, which some (including the state of California) believeย may cause cancer in humans.
According to Simplot, field trials of the first generation Innate potato found that Burbanks potatoes with the Innate traits bruised 44 percent less and Rangers with the trait bruised 35 percent less.ย They also estimated that full market penetrance of Innate crops would save 240 million pounds of potatoes and $55 million each year. The lack of spoiling should also mean fewer potatoes are needed to be grown each year which willย lead to lower agricultural carbon dioxide emissions: fewer crops means fewer passes with tractors (and other equipment) which leads to lower emissions. The enhanced potato also produced 70 percent less acrylamide than non-GMO varieties.
The second generation made many improvements on these numbers, for example second generation Innate potato produce 90 percent less acrylamide. But it also contained two new added traits: lowered reducing sugars and resistance toย late blight disease. The formerย trait will allow the potatoes to be cold stored (at 38ยฐ F) for more than six months without spoiling. The latterย traitย makes the Innate potato resistant to aย fungal disease thatย can swiftly decimate an entire potato crop. Thisย is the fungus that is responsible for severalย infamous potato famines.
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Field tests in a few states โ Idaho, Michigan and Pennsylvania โ in which the late blight disease hit hard last season showed excellent success and it is predicted that farmers will be able to reduce fungicide usage by as much as 45 percent. However, the presence of this trait has changed the regulatory sequence for generation two from that of generation one. For generation one, only the USDA and the FDA had to sign off on the growing of the potato, however, generation two will need EPA approval as well. But Simplot expects to receive thisย and has planned to plantย 100 acres of the newer generation this summer for sale in 2017.
But Simplot is not just focusing on the United States as the company hopes to have approvals in Mexico, Japan, and Canada by the end of 2016.ย They have also submitted petitions for approval in Taiwan and China. Theirย spokesman Doug Cole indicated that foreign approval would most likely leadย the company to offering the GMO potato in new forms such as frozen and dehydrated forms.
The Innate potato, along with other GMO crops like the Arctic Apple, are part of a new waveย of GMO crops which focusย on direct benefits to the consumer.ย Over the past 15 years, the benefits of agriculture genetic engineering and biotechnology have primarily fallen to the farmer. Crops that carried the trait for the Bt insecticide as well as herbicide tolerant crops (i.e. glyphosate resistant) provide direct aid to the farmer, who must manage a myriad of potential weeds and pests which if out of control on a farm can decimate an entire farms worth off crops.
These GMOs do provide an indirect benefit to consumers who benefit from lower, stable prices and enhanced food security, but their indirect nature often leaves the consumer unawareย of their importance. As more and more consumers experience the direct benefits of these new GMOS , like fruits and vegetables that don’t spoil or ones that are healthier than conventional or organic counterparts, the scale mayย tip towards a more positive public perception forย all GMOs.
Nicholas Staropoli is theย Associate Director of GLP and Director of the Epigenetics Literacy Project.ย He has an M.A. in biology from DePaul University and a B.S. in biomedical sciences from Marist College. Follow him on twitterย @NickfrmBoston.
