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Are rotten tomatoes going to be a thing of the past?
Scientists in India said they have created genetically modified tomatoes that will stay fresh a full month longer than regular tomatoes, Sky News reported.
Researchers said they modified the tomatoes by manipulating two enzymes involved in ripening the ubiquitous fruit, which allows them to extend shelf life by 30 days.
"Our strategy allows the achievement of desired texture and firmness and enhancement of shelf life without any ill effects," Dr. Asis Datta of the National Institute of Plant Genome Research in New Delhi told Sky News.
"This strategy can be extended to other fruit crops," Dr. Datta said.
Researchers said the techniques could be used to extend the shelf life of bananas and mangoes, two other fruits that can ripen and go bad quickly.
Some, however, are skeptical of the safety of genetically modified foods.
"The majority of the public are very skeptical about the benefits of GM foods and I don't think that this will do anything to persuade them," Pete Riley, from the U.K. campaign group GM Freeze, told the Daily Mail. "We have survived for millennia without needing to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables."
Riley said that while the tomatoes may appear to be fresher longer, their vitamin content could decline, leaving them less nutritious than normal tomatoes.
India, the world's second-largest tomato grower, loses 35 to 40 percent of its crop to rotting before the product hits store shelves, Sky News reported.
[via Sky News]
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2-04-2010 @1:04PM upurs said... it's all a lie...we poor/common masses have been eating genetically altered foods for a long time now...they don't tell us anything they just pass it through the FDA and we eat ithout even knowing. and that includes fish and mneat too as well as fruits and vegatables.
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2-04-2010 @1:11PM Linda said... We are forgetting that no matter what kind of genetic difference the scientists do - the soil and fertilization of our soil has a lot to do with taste and outcome of our veggies! With a little alteration in fertilization we have a completely different taste to the foods coming from the same soil. I think it is great for the people of India, there is a lot of people over there but for me I will keep checking the little labels on my foods and do my best at buying from the farmers markets as for my soil - I have it checked every couple of years then plant away!!!
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2-04-2010 @1:25PM rjeabz said... A very popular (unfortunately) commercial tomato now has a texture more like a cucumber. The flesh is tooi firm and the tomatoes end up in popular fast food places as well as from your grocer. If that is an example of tomato research, I just want a good old fashioned Jersey-like tomato that we once consumed by the basketfull before tomatoes started being priced in the steak category.
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2-04-2010 @2:07PM gs said... genetically modified - you eat it - it is a nightshade and has probably become toxic - let us genetically modify some hindus and see how they cook up
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2-04-2010 @1:35PM rick said... american people will be so poor very soon that they will buy anything walmart sells and anything made in india walmart will sell so those tomatoes would be a big hit in america
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2-24-2010 @9:16PM Anastasia said... Tomatoes and other fruits that take longer to rot definitely have potential to help with long distance shipping. But they also have potential to help prevent food waste and to extend the season of fresh local produce for northern regions.
The Indian researchers turned off one gene that produces an enzyme that breaks down the cell walls of the tomatoes. In tomatoes that have the gene turned on, the enzyme breaks down components of the cell wall and the products of that breakdown start a whole process that causes the tomato to soften and eventually rot. This change has nothing to do with how animal (human) digestion enzymes will treat the tomato.
As for how long the vitamins will last - more testing needs to be done. Although, if biotech fruits like these are able to reduce the amount of rotten wasted food by 30-40% in developing countries, I wonder if any potential reduced vitamins per individual fruit would be made up by quantity. There's a lot of hungry people out there. I don't know about you, but I think the tomatoes would be useful in developed countries too - sometimes I'm not able to use up all the tomatoes from my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) before they rot. Assuming that they pass the necessary safety testing, I'd eat them.
For more science-based thoughts on these tomatoes, and other genetically engineered crops, I hope you'll check out the group blog Biofortified.org. My post "I say tomato" has some more information about exactly how these tomatoes were developed.
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