The Flavr Savr Tomato
A Technological Breakthrough in the Food Industry
When you think about a technological breakthrough a tomato may not be the first thing that comes to your mind, however, a tomato made history in the late 90’s. In 1994, the Flavr Savr tomato was the first genetically modified food that was sold for consumption. GMOs, or genetically modified organisms, are very common amongst our food nowadays. Corn, soy, canola etc. are all genetically modified and are all part of most of our diets. The Flavr Savr tomato was the first GMO food on the market, and was the first time society ever ate food that was genetically modified. The Flavr Savr tomato came to be because it was found that 80% of stakeholders in the tomato industry in the US were not satisfied with the tomatoes being grown. Consumers did not like how tomatoes did not have a taste and went soft quickly. Distributors and transporters also did not like tomatoes because they would create a lot of waste. The Flavr Savr tomato was created in the hopes of solving these issues. Flavr Savr tomato was developed to improve the taste as well as the issue with it softening too quickly. This was done by adding an antisense gene to stop the production of enzyme polygalacturonase, which would prevent the tomato from rotting, so it would keep the same taste and flavour however it would not go soft. This solution made it easier for transporters to handle.
Since the Flavr Savr tomato was the first genetically modified crop, it was more expensive because people wanted to try a GMO crop for the first time, thus creating a high demand when it was initially available to consumers. However, The Flavr Savr tomato didn’t last long, in 1997 the production ceased because it did not address the issues the people had, so eventually production stopped since there was no longer a demand. The reason there was no longer a demand was because it did not differ from a regular tomato, so people did not see a need for it. Although the Flavr Savr tomato didn’t stay on the market long, it revolutionized our food system. Technology has allowed food to be bread the ideal product consumers want by using these genetic engineering techniques. Next time your eating something, keep an eye out to see if it is genetically modified! You can see if the item is genetically modified if it has a peel code of “8”. Bon appetit!
