These super tomatoes are the first food to reach consumers genetically edited with the revolutionary CRISPR technique.
Genetically modified foods have been around for many years, and have always been surrounded by controversy. Now come lThe first gene-edited foods, It is not the same.
In fact, these CRISPR edited tomatoes They have not entered the category of genetically modified foods, as they use a different technique. But the result is spectacular: tomatoes that reduce stress and lower blood pressure.
CRISPR is a revolutionary technique that allows cut and paste DNA in a simple and effective way. You can see how it works on this card:
For the first time, CRISPR leaves the laboratory and goes directly to consumers. CRISPR-edited tomatoes have been on sale in Japan since last September.
They are commercialized directly by the same company that has edited their genome, the Japanese Sanatech Seed.
And what has he done so that these tomatoes are able to reduce stress and blood pressure?
The natural tomato contains gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an amino acid that various studies have shown that helps relaxation and lowers blood pressure.
What these scientists have done is edit the gene that regulates the production of GABA in tomato, to multiply the amount of this amino acid by five that produces the tomato.
This increases the beneficial effect of the aforementioned amino acid, being more effective than a conventional tomato.
The tomato is called Sicilian Rouge High GABA. According Shimpei Takeshita, president of Sanatech Seed, chose the Sicilian Rouge variety for “its high level of acceptance by consumers“.
In Japan, products with GABA are highly sought after by consumers, which is why they decided to enhance this specific amino acid.
As we say, Sanatech Seed sells this product directly to consumers, through this web.
Of course, these super tomatoes are not easy to grow, and their price will surely scare you: A three-kilo box of CRISPR-edited tomatoes costs 58 euros.
We are going to hear a lot about this technique applied to food in the coming years.