20240207_me_a_genetically_modified_purple_tomato_is_now_available_to_home_gardeners_(1)

The first-ever genetically modified tomato seeds are now available for home gardeners in the US. Developed by Norfolk Plant Sciences, the purple tomato contains more of the antioxidant anthocyanin. Food companies are interested in nutrient-dense produce due to the health trend. Although not yet in grocery stores, the seeds are being sold directly to gardeners. The tomato has a delightful taste, with a crisp, sour, and sweet flavor. Genetically modified crops have a perception problem, but Norfolk hopes the new tomato will help change this. Selling the seeds to gardeners can demystify GMO plants. Scientists believe the purple tomato could pave the way for more nutritious and resilient crops. The seeds of a genetically modified tomato are now available for people to plant in their home gardens. It is the first time so-called transgenic seeds have been sold directly to customers in the U.S. Sasha Woodruff with Boise State Public Radio got a sneak peek and taste and has the story. The purple tomato has been 20 years in the making. Norfolk Plant Sciences developed it to get more of the antioxidant anthocyanin into people's diets. It's the pigment that gives blueberries, blackberries and eggplant their color and gives them status as superfoods. Kathleen Heffron, a microbiologist at Cornell University, says food companies are now really interested in developing nutrient-dense produce. People have interest in their quality of life or longevity and things like this. So I think there has been just a health trend and it's going to continue. Purple tomatoes aren't on grocery shelves yet, but Norfolk sent me a box so I could taste them. It's a little basket of tiny purple cherry tomatoes. Two genes from the snapdragon flower give the fruit its pigment. I'm going to put some salt on it. That's delightful. Nice, crisp, sour component to it, but also has a nice level of sweetness. They look like tiny eggplants. The flesh looks like a plum. The color makes it hard to tell if they're ripe. The ones that were a little squishier tended to be sweeter. Nathan Pumplin is CEO of Norfolk's American subsidiary that sells the seeds to gardeners. There's a lot of benefits that can go to consumers through biotechnology. Better taste, better nutrition as prime examples. Genetically modified crops are not new to the United States. About 90% of the corn and soy we grow here have genes modified in a lab. But Pumplin knows that GMOs have a perception problem. A 2020 Pew Research study showed that most Americans see GMOs as worse for their health than foods with no genetic modification. Just 7% see them as healthier than other foods. Norfolk hopes the new tomato will help change this, so they're selling seeds directly to gardeners. They have a beautiful purple color. Chris Kidd was one of a handful of farmers who grew them when the FDA signed off on the fruit last year. He has a farm in North Carolina. It grows just like a normal indeterminate variety tomato. So it can get, my tomato vines grow to 12, 15 feet tall. Many of the early GM crops were developed to be tolerant to herbicides, and some environmentalists blame them for the increased use of chemicals. Mark Linus is the author of Seeds of Science, Why We Got It So Wrong on GMOs. It enabled people who were concerned about the technology to really draw the conclusion that this was all about increasing agrochemical use and the capture of the seeds in the food chain by big U.S. corporate, multinational corporations. He says marketing the GMO seeds to gardeners could help demystify these plants. Stop doing the GMO stuff with these great big corporate commodity cash crops. Let ordinary people try the seeds, grow it themselves, taste the tomato, if that's what you want to call it, I'd call it a tomato, but you'll see actually no, it's just a seed. He and other scientists hope the purple tomato will open the way for other crops that are more nutritious and more resilient in a changing climate. For NPR News, I'm Sasha Woodruff.