By Jesse Harlan Alderman, The Associated Press
BOISE Inside tucked-away labs in this town built by french fries, teams of scientists are splicing potato genes, working daily to perfect Idaho's top cash crop with modern biotechnology.
At J.R. Simplot, biologists hope to create the first genetically modified potato, designing a spud that's tastier and resistant to unsightly bruises and sprouts.
What's more, the potato's revamped gene structure rebuffs acrylamides, potentially dangerous chemicals that studies suggest bond with sugars in fried potatoes.
Company officials stress that the new potato, a genetically modified Russet Ranger, is in a preliminary research stage. It will be five to 10 years before Simplot markets a genetically enhanced potato that could supplant unmodified Russet Burbanks, the variety sold by the billion to fast-food restaurants across the world.
"It's five years down the road and only if consumers really want it," said Caius Rommens, Simplot's lead biologist on the project. "But this could be the first. It's a breakthrough — the first time genetic modification ever enhanced flavor."
Even when the new Russet Ranger is perfected, it may not be a potato panacea. Consumers are skittish about genetically modified foods. Fast food products, already under intense scrutiny from health groups and government regulators, may not withstand a public outcry against so-called "Frankenfoods."
There are more than 50,000 genes in a potato. The scientists at Simplot removed two of those genes and introduced replicas that silence some of their negative effects, Rommens said. The altered potato could contain 7% more healthy starch, while offering a stronger flavor.
The new potato can also be stored longer before its starches begin to degrade. As starch degrades, sugars build in the potato. Those sugars form acrylamides when cooked under the intense heat of a fry oven or stove, international studies first reported a few years ago.
Studies have linked acrylamide, a chemical agent once used to treat sewage, to cancer in animals, according to the World Health Organization. In California, McDonald's and Burger King have been sued for not providing warning labels informing customers that french fries could cause cancer.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not ruled yet on any acrylamide risk, and the battle over warning labels is still bottled up in court.
Fred Zerza, a Simplot spokesman, said a link between acrylamides in french fries and human cancer has never been proven. But, the gene-altering technology's potential to reduce acrylamides is promising, he said.
"That's one of the traits that we hope this research would have the potential for," he said. "But it's a gradual process."
Gregory Jaffe, biotechnology project director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C., said it's crucial that genetically modified foods are tested for higher levels of natural toxins, allergens and other potential public health risks.
The center says that after genetically modified foods face testing and regulation, the choice to eat an altered potato, tomato or other food, should be left up to the consumer.
That position differs from several national organic food associations that oppose scientific engineering of crops.
Simplot marketers hopes they can eventually sell a technical distinction to the french fry noshing public: that their bioengineered potatoes do not include foreign DNA and are not a crossbred species. Currently, Simplot's Russet Ranger only modifies existing potato genes.
"Presumably a higher quality potato would receive consumer acceptance, but that's a question mark," Zerza said. "There's been an indication that there's a reluctance of consumers in this country and to a greater extent in Japan and Europe."
Jeff Stark, an agronomist with the University of Idaho's Tri-State Potato Program in Aberdeen, said genetically modified potatoes can succeed if consumers are convinced of the health benefits.
"The public is likely to be more willing to accept genetically modified plant material in the food supply as long as it improves their health," he said. "My personal opinion is it's a viable option."
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