USDA APHIS to provide non-regulated status for Simplot’s second-generation Innate potato

The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has decided to provide non-regulated status for a genetically engineered (GE) potato variety developed by JR Simplot Company.

The second-generation Innate potato variety is engineered for late blight resistance, low-acrylamide potential, reduced black spot bruising, and lowered reducing sugars.

Simplot plant sciences vice-president Haven Baker was quoted by Associated Press as saying: "For historical reasons and current agriculture reasons, this is an important milestone.

"The Irish potato famine did change a lot of western history. Even today, 160 years later, late blight is a $5bn problem for the global potato industry."

According to Baker, the modifications were made by silencing existing genes or adding genes from other types of potatoes. The late blight resistance comes from an Argentinean variety.

The first generation of this variety also featured less bruising and reduction of acrylamide, a chemical produced at high temperatures that some studies revealed can cause cancer.

In March, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) completed the food and feed safety consultation of the first generation of Innate potatoes and concluded that it is safe and nutritious as conventional potatoes.

Simplot said the company used modern biotechnology techniques to accelerate the traditional breeding process and provide new traits by triggering the potato’s own RNA interference (RNAi) pathway.

The company is currently working on the third generation of Innate potatoes. Baker said the new variety will be able to resist a type of virus that can make potatoes unmarketable.

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Image: Simplot’s Innate potato features late blight resistance, low-acrylamide potential, reduced black spot bruising, and lowered reducing sugars. Photo: courtesy of Suat Eman/ Freedigitalphotos.net.