Genetically modified tomatoes article in Wired magazine

[JerryHaskins]

Y'all should get a copy of the latest (August 2018) copy of Wired magazine.

Wired is a magazine for techies, but the August issue has a long article about current efforts to genetically modify tomatoes.

I am not sure how much quotation is allowed in this forum, but here is a brief quote that I found interesting:

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When I asked Harry Klee if he had tasted any of the jointless 8059 tomatoes (a variety that is grown extensively for commercial sales) he's growing, he laughed and said he hadn't bothered.

"We know that Florida 8059 by itself doesn't really have too much taste to begin with." A better-tasting· tomato always plays second fiddle to market economics. The majority of tomatoes grown in Florida, for example, go to the food service industry---"to the McDonald's and Subways," Klee says. "The sad reality," Klee says, "is that industry is not really committed to making a better-tasting tomato."

"We know exactly how to give you a sweeter tomato that will taste better," he says. But those tomatoes are not as economically attractive to producers. "The growers won't accept it."

The bottom line: Gene-edited tomatoes are probably on their way to the market. But tomatoes with better flavor? Probably not going to happen anytime soon.

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