Tomatoes illustrate safety issues for biotech foods

Abstract

At a symposium sponsored by the Agricultural & Food Chemistry Division during the recent ACS national meeting in Washington, D.C., scientists and government officials focused on the general issue of the safety of genetically modified foods and flavors. But for a variety of reasons, the subject of tomatoes kept coming up. Tomatoes and their relatives are among the easiest plants to manipulate genetically, and as such, they have been the center of much basic research on plant genetics. Tomatoes also are a reasonably important cash crop, and genetically engineered versions of the fruit are making their way to the market. Indeed, earlier this year, Calgene's FlavrSavr tomato, engineered for longer shelf life, became the first whole food produced by biotechnology to reach U.S. consumers (C&EN, May 23, page 7). At the symposium, James H. Maryanski, strategic manager for biotechnology at the Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition, Food & Drug Administration, presented an overview ...