THREE types of genetically modified potatoes developed by J.R. Simplot Co. to resist the pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine are safe for the environment and safe to eat, Canadian officials said recently.
[ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”2,3,5″ ihc_mb_template=”1″ ]The approval means the potatoes can be imported, planted and sold in Canada.
The Idaho-based company said in a statement it received approval letters from Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency last month.
“We have no objection to the sale of food derived from J.R. Simplot Company’s” potatoes for human consumption, Karen McIntyre, director general of Health Canada, said in a letter sent on July 28 to the company.
The three varieties of potato — the Russet Burbank, Ranger Russet and Atlantic — were approved by U.S. regulatory agencies in February.
The approval by Canada means the two nations can import and export with each other the potatoes that contain a gene resistant to late blight that led to the Irish potato famine.
The company said the potatoes contain only potato genes and that the resistance to late blight comes from an Argentine variety of potato that naturally produced a defence.
J.R. Simplot spokesman Doug Cole said the company has been doing experimental field trials in three Canadian provinces: Manitoba, Ontario and Prince Edward Island.
Farmers on Prince Edward Island successfully grow Russet Burbank potatoes, Cole said, but the wet climate makes late blight a problem.
A potato with resistance to late blight could help.
“There’s strong interest from farmers to get that potato with that trait so they can spray less and have a better-quality crop,” Cole said.
There is no evidence that genetically modified organisms, known as GMOs, are unsafe to eat, but changing the genetic code of foods presents an ethical issue for some.
Simplot officials said the potatoes also have reduced bruising and black spots, enhanced storage capacity and a lower amount of a chemical that’s a potential carcinogen and is created when potatoes are cooked at high temperatures.
Potatoes are considered the fourth food staple crop in the world behind corn, rice and wheat.
Late blight, which rotted entire crops and led to the deaths of about a million Irish in the 1840s, is still a major problem for potato growers, especially in wetter regions.
Fungicides have been used for decades to prevent the blight.
Simplot said the genetically engineered potatoes reduce the use of fungicide by half.
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