Americans may soon be eating high-tech potatoes, after a genetically engineered (GE) spud that makers say resists bruising and reduces a possible carcinogen was approved by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Friday.
The Innate Potato, a trademarked creation of Simplot, has DNA from other potatoes spliced into its own, through a process called RNA interference technology. The USDA also approved genetically modified alfalfa from Monsanto.
Food-safety advocates advised caution.
“If this is an attempt to give crop biotechnology a more benign face, all it has really done is expose the inadequacies of the US regulation of GE crops,” said Doug Gurian-Sherman, senior scientist at the advocacy group Center for Food Safety, in a statement.
Photo: Potato Harvest by Jing licensed under CC0 Public Domain