Super food or Frankenfood?

But what about genetically engineering tomatoes? Could it help create the perfect specimen? Since 2004, an international scientific consortium has been working on sequencing the tomato genome, with the hope that this will help them develop more vitamin-rich fruit and vegetables. A genetically-modified tomato with a long shelf-life was first introduced to the U.S. market in 1994, but it was removed from shops in the UK and other countries due to controversy. The tomato has also been engineered to be a salt-tolerant crop and to increase its quantities of certain antioxidants, but taste is not the primary factor considered.

Last night, I was watching a new Channel 4 series called Animal Farm where the two presenters argue for and against genetically-modified food. Although they didn’t really touch on tomatoes, they did do a taste test of Belgian blue beef. If you’ve ever seen one of these bulls, you would remember because they are extremely muscular! Breeders have selected cows and bulls with the greatest muscle mass and allowed those to mate. Typically, cattle have a gene that controls muscle growth, but due to a mutation, the muscles of Belgian blues don’t have this control. The gene also affects fat deposits, resulting in virtually fat-free steaks….

At the end of the episode, the anti-GM presenter tastes a Belgian blue steak to see whether it tastes superior to a regular beef steak. As he takes a bite of his extra-lean snack, he complains that it is very chewy and tastes sort of like horse meat. He isn’t really that impressed…

But GM tomatoes shouldn't really be compared to the Belgian blue… Although I have mixed feelings on the whole GM debate, when it comes to taste I think I would trust organic tomatoes rather than GM ones. Science may prove me wrong, but for the time being I’ll be heading back to Sardinia for the perfect tomato sauce, not checking out what a science lab has concocted.

For more information:

mips - Toronto Genome Database
http://mips.gsf.de/proj/plant/jsf/tomato/index.jsp

BBC - GM tomatoes 'offer health boost'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1517387.stm