What Ever Happened to the Flavr Savr Genetically-Engineered Tomato?
By Michelle Fabio
If you were interested in tomatoes back in the mid-1990s, you probably heard of the Flavr Savr, the genetically-engineered (GE) tomato from the Californian company Calgene.
Now that GE tomatoes are back in the news for possibly fighting birth defects and anemia, you might be wondering—what ever happened to that Flavr Savr?
First, for those who haven’t heard of this history-making tomato, the Flavr Savr was the first genetically engineered food given the stamp of approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for human consumption; the FDA even found that no special labeling was necessary on the GE tomatoes because there was no evidence of health risks and nutritional content was the same as naturally-produced tomatoes.
The Flavr Savr was designed to be able to be left longer to ripen on the vine (many natural tomatoes are picked unripe and then ripened through chemical means) and to have a longer shelf life than natural tomatoes. Accordingly, the introduction of this GE tomato to the marketplace in 1994 was meant to revolutionize the availability of fresh, ripe tomatoes.
But high production costs mixed with the company’s inexperience in tomato growing, handling, and transport led to financial troubles for the Flavr Savr. Eventually Calgene was bought out by Monsanto, a multinational agricultural company, and the Flavr Savr disappeared from shelves for good in 1997, just three years after its introduction.
If you’re interested in what types of genetically engineered food you might see around, the Union of Concerned Scientists keeps a list called Genetically Engineered Food and Feed Allowed on the Market in the United States.
Source: Am I Eating GE Tomatoes?
