New Zealand
January 12, 2025
Amongst scientists there has been a collective ‘hurrah’ to news that governments around the world are revisiting and revising rules around the use of gene technologies in food production. Richard Rennie investigates the new gene-edited foods making it to market.
The New Zealand Government has recently suggested changes to gene technology use that could have massive economic and environmental benefits. Some of New Zealand’s key trading partners, such as the USA and Japan, have already updated their regulations to more easily allow gene-edited crops to be grown and sold in market. Others, such as the UK and Europe, are on a similar path.
Scientists around the world are doubling down on efforts to deliver gene-edited foods that meet growing environmental and consumer pressures, with several available to consumers already.
Diving into gene editing
Canada, Australia, Japan, the United States and China are all taking an increasingly liberal approach to allowing gene technology to be used in commercial food items and crops.
Canada, for example, believes that, scientifically, gene-edited crops do not present any unique concerns compared with crops produced via other development methods.
Guidelines set in 2023 on crops developed through gene editing and other New Breeding Techniques (NBTs) has them regulated the same way as conventional crops, based on whether there are any negative impacts on the environment or human health.
Currently, the only gene-edited crop approved for sale—as a ‘non-novel food’—are mustard greens with less bitterness, produced by Pairwise. Several crops produced using other gene technologies are also approved: for example, the Arctic® non-browning apple cultivar from Okanagan Specialty Fruits, produced using RNA interference, gained approval for sale in 2015.
Meantime Simplot’s non-browning potato, also produced with RNA interference, was approved in 2016 but has been put on hold for release.
Japanese go GABA
Japan is also proving something of a pioneer in gene-edited food products as it strives to try and reduce its reliance upon bulk commodity crop imports and develop a better rate of self-sufficiency in its food supply model. It has approved the introduction of four food products with gene editing technology embedded in them.
Two are fish varieties, while the third is the GABA-enriched tomato from Japanese biotech company Sanatech. The fourth is a waxy corn variety.
Approved two years ago, the Sicilian Rouge tomato has been edited to contain elevated amounts of γ-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, and was the first commercially gene-edited food crop to gain approval globally. The amount of GABA in the tomato is elevated to four times the average by using gene editing to disable a gene that suppressed GABA content.
GABA is known to help lower blood pressure and increase relaxation, although the company has been careful not to make a direct clinical claim around the tomatoes as a ‘functional food’.
Some clever marketing to home gardeners helped gain traction for the tomato, building a community invested in its success within their own home gardens from an early stage.
Born in the USA
The United States has been somewhat of a poster child for developing and growing genetically modified crops, with more than 70 million hectares of mostly row crops grown across the nation. NBTs, particularly CRISPR gene editing, have also captured the attention of scientists and producers.
Currently, three gene-edited crops have been approved for sale in the USA. Consumers can purchase gene-edited non-browning lettuce seed from GreenVenus™ to grow at home. The company is also using CRISPR gene editing to develop grapes with natural preservation properties, and a non-browning avocado.
Pairwise launched Conscious™ Greens mustard greens to US consumers in 2023 to test consumer sentiment, exiting the market in early 2024 to concentrate on its core business of R&D.
Pairwise chief operating office Ian Miller said the company sold off Conscious™ Greens to Bayer, soon recognising it was a gene tech company, not a salad distribution operation.
“But our survey work when we launched Conscious™ Greens showed consumers were very happy with the product and were not concerned over the use of gene editing to create it.”
Pairwise is now working on blackberries with soft seeds and pit-less cherries. With gene editing technology, Miller likens the company to a computer chip company whose tech is installed in different brands of laptops.
The company has a licensing agreement with UK-based fruit company Tropic to incorporate its gene tech in tropical fruit crops.
Meantime several tomatoes, including Japan’s high-GABA tomatoes, and a number of gene-edited row crops, have been approved for commercialisation in the USA.
Crops produced by other gene technologies are also entering the market, with the first non-browning Arctic® apple developed in Canada gaining approval in 2015 and the latest variety, Arctic® Gala, approved in October 2024. More than 500 hectares of Arctic apple trees are planted in Washington State.
A merger of Cibus and Calyxt in 2023 saw the new Cibus parent company gain access to three crops, designated by the USDA as non-regulated, developed by Calyxt using TALENS technology—another form of gene editing—to add to their portfolio.
A global liberation
In China, regulations enabling genetically modified food research and production are well embedded. In 2015 food safety rules allowed production of such foods, subject to labelling. The latest Chinese work includes developing a healthy fat oleic acid soybean as its first approved gene-edited crop.
India has used CRISPR technology to biofortify bananas to boost vitamin A in a ‘super banana’, and globally there are assorted ‘long life’ gene-edited vegetables under application, including avocados and lettuce.
In Australia, researchers have enjoyed relatively liberal gene technology regulations for almost a quarter of a century through its Gene Technology Act.
While still not entirely mapped out, it appears likely New Zealand will take a similar pathway, with a gene technology regulator office overseeing approvals of research and commercial release.
Fresh as apples
Canadian company Okanagan was responsible for releasing the first and so far only commercially available genetically engineered apple to market, the Arctic® Advantage in 2017. It began from the desire of its founders Neal and Louisa Carter to reduce fruit wastage—as high as 40% for apples—and lift apple consumption.
They used RNA interference gene technology (a transgenic approach) to remove the browning enzyme from the apple’s DNA, ensuring it can keep for longer once sliced.
Okanagan’s business development vice president Sarah Evanega says a slide in apple consumption over the years reflects general fresh fruit consumption decline, particularly in children.
“Children are 70% more likely to consume sliced fruit than a whole fruit item. We only retail sliced apples, slicing to order and shipping with a 28-day shelf life, the longest of any apple on the market.”
Being able to slice and sell not only appeals to consumers, but also cuts the shipping weight down by about 20%, with the unwanted cores being used for cattle feed. The non-browning characteristic also makes for a high-quality cider that has a crisper, clean taste thanks to the apple juice holding its freshness longer.
Evanega is excited about the prospects the next generation of gene-editing tech will bring to the plant crop sector.
“We used RNAi technology for the original apple but today it’s CRISPR techniques. It used to be you only saw genetic modification done on row crops like soy and corn.
So far we have only really seen the Arctic® apple, a purple tomato, a papaya out of Hawaii and a potato, [but] far too few crops.
But with gene editing there are so many more crops out there that have significant value for middle-income countries that may not be as globally traded but are still important. Gene-editing technology means we have the opportunity to take that much further, and extend the traits we include.”
She believes the decision to modify a crop no longer has to be a binary one that is either ‘farmer friendly’ in terms of improving management of the crop, or ‘consumer friendly’, such as an eating trait.
“We can now combine what both the consumer and grower need and make agriculture far more sustainable as a result.”
Overall, the number of gene-edited plants offering consumers some benefit in taste or function remains relatively light.
Plant & Food Research scientist Dr Revel Drummond says he doesn’t expect to see a wave of foreign companies pushing to propagate their gene-edited crops in New Zealand once regulations change, given the size of the market.
“I think we’re more likely to see food products or ingredients being imported, and small companies like Daisy Lab, for example, in New Zealand producing ingredients with fermentation technology using gene-edited microorganisms.”
He does see the value in having gene-edited, consumer-facing traits that will increase the rate of acceptance of the technology.
“Pairwise’s Conscious™ Greens leafy greens for example make those greens more edible, that engages consumers, and once engaged, they are usually pretty accepting of the technology.”
Gene technology path a fraught one
The interplay between the cost of developing new types of crops using gene technologies and their commercial uptake plays an integral part in determining which are likely to come to market first.
Since the 1990s most commercial efforts involving genetically engineered plants have focused on high-volume crops grown in broadacre style, including corn, cotton, wheat and canola, with the main focus of the tech being on making those crops either more productive, more harvestable, or both.
As a result, BT corn and cotton crops - with a gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis that makes them resistant to some insect pests; ‘Roundup® Ready’ glyphosate-resistant crops and drought-resistant corn have underscored efforts to date.
Nutritionally enhanced plants, like high-nutrition tomatoes, have faced a tougher road, but prospects are increasingly positive as technology costs fall and techniques improve, alongside consumer acceptance of it.
More produce choice on way
Australia’s gene technology regulator Dr Raj Bhula has noted how much of the gene-editing technology has kicked off with a focus primarily upon making crops more productive or manageable.
However, she is also confident that as the technology evolves, the pace and focus on food types will gain momentum.
Okanagan’s Evanega is watching New Zealand’s regulatory moves with interest. She says having a positive, enabling environment for public and private research where the focus is upon outcomes, rather than processes, is vital.
“Gene technology is no longer an issue for consumers in terms of concern.
Often, they don’t know a lot about it, but when it is explained to them, they are overwhelmingly in favour of it, particularly if the technology is offering a personal nutrition or use benefit. They appreciate the sustainability benefits it can deliver, such as lower pesticide use or lower water use."
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