Australia’s food regulation agency has called for submissions as it reviews a genetically modified potato designed to produce fewer undesired chemicals when fried. U.S. authorities approved the Simplot-produced potato, called Innate, for growing and processing last year.
Through genetic modification, Innate produces much less of a byproduct chemical called acrylamide, which has been linked to cancer in laboratory animals.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has given the public until the end of September to make a submission. FSANZ will then complete its review and make a recommendation to Australia’s federal government next year. The authority has already assessed the potato as safe in testing.
“The DNA that has been added is from the potato itself, or from a closely-related potato species,” FSANZ chief executive Steve McCutcheon said. “There are no new proteins that have been introduced. It’s reducing the expression of four of the potato’s own genes.”
Gary Kennedy, a food technology expert with Correct Food Systems, said processors, while catering to the western diet, are under pressure to remove acrylamide.
“There have been links to higher levels of cancer in western foods, to foods containing high levels of acyrlamide,” said Kennedy. “It hasn’t been proven that higher levels of acrylamide cause cancer, but that’s the theory. [Acrylamide is] also produced in processes like barbequing, smoking in smokehouses [and] toasting… The trend is going up; we’re eating more fried foods [and] the acrylamide issue is very much a western diet issue, as I’ve said in the past. I don't think this is a problem in sub-Saharan Africa because they’re not eating french fries there.”
Simplot says potato growers in the U.S. lose around $300 million every year to bruising. University of Adelaide plant scientist Peter Langridge said it was common for plants, particularly apples and potatoes, to go brown. But he said when that happened the plant becomes bitter. Innate potatoes have significantly fewer bruising problems than industry standard varieties.
Langridge said the technology used to create the GM potato could be useful in other varieties.
“If it’s a success, then we’ll probably see it go through most of the potato varieties because it offers significant advantages to consumers,” he said. “Not just [for] those who are deep frying, but [it] also protects the potatoes from browning during transport.”
Source: ABC Rural