GMOs Touted as Potential Solution for Food Waste Problem

The American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization have formed a joint venture – Innovature – to highlight the connections between agricultural innovations and wellness. The duo is promoting gene editing as part of a strategy to combat food waste, writes The Fence Post.

During a recent breakfast briefing titled “Saving Food, Fighting Food Waste”, Doug Cole, Simplot’s senior manager of Marketing and Biotech Affairs at Simplot Plant Sciences in Boise, Idaho revealed that the company has developed a potato that will not brown and therefore won’t be rejected by retailers, restaurant or consumers, thus minimizing food waste.

The Agriculture Department (USDA), the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency have all approved Simplot’s Innate technology, which was used to create its White Russet potato. the being sold in more than 40 states, thus becoming the world’s first commercialized biotech potato with consumer traits.

According to the report, Cole said that 60% of Americans trust genetically modified organisms while 40% do not. He also stated that the USDA has poured a USD3m budget into educating consumers about GMOs.

Other panelists focused on very different approaches to fighting food waste. For example, Monica McBride, the manager of food loss and waste at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), said she works with farmers and the restaurant industry to reduce food waste.

McBride said that every year, 1.4bn hectares of land is used to grow food that’s ultimately lost or waste, resulting in less land for forests and flowers to grow and fewer places to animals to live.

WWF has parented with the Kroger stores to conduct food waste audits in nine cities. The percentage of food left in fields varies dramatically from crop to crop but finding ways to pick up what is left behind is difficult, she said.