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USDA approves next-generation GM potato

Nature Biotechnology volume 33, pages 12–13 (2015)Cite this article

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A Correction to this article was published on 12 May 2015

This article has been updated

The newly approved potato is a milestone in the agbiotech industry because it was developed by a company outside the small club of multinational traders that dominate the biotech crop market. “This gives a little hope to a guy like me at a university,” says Kevin Folta, chairman of the horticultural sciences department at the University of Florida in Gainesville. “We have solutions for citrus that we can't use because it's so difficult to get them through the approval process. So seeing a company that's not the traditional Monsanto, Dow, DuPont and Syngenta be able to navigate, this is a ray of sunshine for us.”

Simplot's potato addresses a problem experienced by both the potato industry and home cooks. Potatoes bruise easily during handling and storage, and can turn brown within minutes of being cut and exposed to the air. Bruising and browning do not change the flavor of potatoes, but they make them less visually pleasing, and the potatoes are often discarded by consumers.

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Change history

  • 28 April 2015

    The version of this article initially published stated that there is no foreign DNA in the Simplot potato plant; in fact, there are trace amounts of agrobacterium present. Additionally, the photo caption indicated that French fries made from Simplot's potatos contain no acrylamide; there are lower levels of acrylamide in these fries than in fries made from conventional potatoes. These errors have been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.

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    Emily Waltz

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Waltz, E. USDA approves next-generation GM potato. Nat Biotechnol 33, 12–13 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0115-12

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