Among the precision-bred fruit are “sunshine” tomatoes, created by John Innes Institute in Norfolk.
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Long-lasting strawberries and tomatoes could be on the way to the UK, it has emerged, with gene-editing fruit set to be seen on UK shelves. DNA-altered fresh produce could be set to be sold in supermarkets, it has been confirmed.
The Labour Party government is set to approve a marketing notice for strawberries and tomatoes that stay in season for longer and tomatoes that contain more vitamin D, according to reports.
Both the Telegraph, the Sun newspaper and GB News reports among the precision-bred fruit are “sunshine” tomatoes, created by John Innes Institute in Norfolk.
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The fruit and veg reportedly has as much vitamin D as two eggs or 28g of tuna, and were designed to help fight against “endemic vitamin D deficiency”, according to the Labour Party government’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra).
“All new plant varieties go through testing. These crops will be held to the same standards, if not more so,” said Prof Cathie Martin, who leads the lab where the tomatoes were developed.
Prof Martin said the vitamin-enriched tomatoes “could one day be a low-cost, simple, plant-based solution that can improve diets across the world”.
She added: “This is an important step in getting the tomato approved to go to market in England.”
The strawberries would taste the same as their non-edited alternatives and would have the same nutritional value, Dr Penny Hundleby, of the John Innes Centre, said.
She said: “These new strawberry varieties demonstrate how precision breeding can deliver practical benefits for both farmers and consumers.
“By extending the fruiting period, they could help increase the availability of British strawberries and reduce reliance on imports, all without changing the taste, flavour or nutritional profile of the fruit.”
Diego Durantini, the programme manager at John Innes, said: “Defra’s approval for the market is an important step in our project to bring Sunshine tomatoes to the supermarket shelves for consumers in England.
“Vitamin D deficiency is a growing problem and we are excited that our biofortified tomato could soon be a wide reaching solution to this issue.”
