Purple Galaxy Tomato splashed across the cover of this season's Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog. Close-up of a black-purple tomato speckled with small pink dots. Next to it lies sliced fruit, revealing the deep magenta seeds and flesh.
“This beauty is believed to be the universe’s first and most purple non-GMO purple tomato!” Read a copy of the catalog.
The only problem? In fact, the seeds may be a GMO variety, the recently released Purple Tomato made by Norfolk Healthy Produce using genes from snapdragon flowers.
The confusion has alarmed heirloom seed companies, which pride themselves on offering rare, organic varieties and take a firm stance against GMO crops. And this has sparked a debate about biodiversity and what could happen if GMO seeds start spreading.
When news of a non-GMO, purple-fleshed tomato variety first started spreading on social media last fall, some scientists and tomato enthusiasts weren't so sure.
“I discussed it with my colleagues, and we all looked at it and said it was a GMO tomato,” says David Francis, a professor of horticulture and crop science at Ohio State University who specializes in tomato breeding and cultivation. genetics.
To date, traditional plant breeders have been unable to produce tomatoes with purple flesh through cross-pollination. Purple skin, right? There isn't much purple flesh.
But scientists in the UK used recombinant DNA technology to develop a purple-fleshed tomato rich in antioxidants. It was recently approved for sale and consumption in the United States.
Norfolk Plant Sciences
Nathan Pumplin, CEO of Norfolk Healthy Produce, contacted Baker Creek after seeing an Instagram video of the heirloom seed company's Purple Galaxy tomatoes. And this is where the story gets dark.
John Brazaitis, general manager of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, said their seeds were developed by a hobby breeder in France, where GMO cultivation is prohibited. Brazaitis tested for NPTII, a common marker for GMOs, but said he did not test for snapdragon genes specifically.
After some correspondence and disagreements about testing, Baker Creek collected the collected seeds and destroyed the inventory.
The seed company declined to say whether the seeds were GMO or not, saying in a statement: “After repeated testing, we cannot conclude that Purple Galaxy does not contain genetically modified genes.”
Pumplin doesn't say for sure either, but its website says: “We were told that laboratory tests confirmed that it was indeed GMO. These results support the fact that this is the only reported method of producing purple flesh. Tomatoes rich in anthocyanin antioxidants are made using Norfolk's patented technology. It is contained.”
But the next mystery is a harder one to answer. How do you get seeds from a private laboratory in the UK to a hobby gardener in France?
“I don't think it's a runaway train. You could easily argue that Baker Creek has it in their catalog because someone misappropriated it and didn't do their due diligence,” says Ohio State's Francis. It was a mistake, who knows?”
Francis said it was not the case that modified tomato genes escaped from British labs into the wild and traveled on the wind across the English Channel to France, as tomatoes do not spread like dandelions, purslane or ivy.
“For the same reason that regular tomatoes don’t become weeds, they just don’t have the traits to compete well in crowded environments.”
Francis said humans are most definitely involved. GMO purple tomatoes have been in development for 20 years. This means that access to plant material has persisted for a long time.
“Perhaps a collaborator in France had some and the technician took it and the technician gave it to a friend he knew, right?” “Someone took it and said, ‘Hey, let’s play with this,’” he said.
This isn't the first time genetically engineered plants have had unwitting producers or consumers. In 1987, a German laboratory created orange petunias by inserting a corn gene. Although it was never shown to the public, it was discovered almost 30 years later in Finland, where it is almost certain that someone had bred it illegally. The culprit plants were not wild, but were found throughout Europe and America growing in gardens, parks and train stations.
With GMO bans in place in most of Europe, government agencies have asked growers to destroy orange varieties. When the USDA requested a recall in 2017, there were nine cultivars that growers had to throw out with names like Trilogy Mango, Petunia Salmon Ray or Sweetunia Orange Flash. The USDA has approved orange petunias for sale in 2021.
Even if GMO purple tomato seeds don't spread in the wild, Baker Creek's Brazaitis is concerned that GM seeds could show up in unexpected places and growers won't know whether they are there or not.
“This will continue to happen as more GM crops come to market for consumers,” says Brazaitis.
Brazaitis, of Baker Creek, said the entire experience of getting the seeds from the collection was very painful and she was worried about the long-term effects.
“We were really excited to find this really unique variety,” Brazaitis said. “The comeback from that was really difficult. We never thought we would face a GMO problem with tomatoes.”
Pumpkin says the USDA evaluated tomatoes (as it does with all approved GM crops) to make sure they aren't likely to start spreading like weeds. “Purple tomatoes have nothing to keep up with other tomato populations,” says Pumplin.
Tomatoes have about 35,000 genes, and Pumplin points out that purple tomatoes have only two more genes than snapdragons. Tomatoes are capable of self-pollinating. This means that the pollination is contained within the flower and the risk of gene spread is very low.
Still, Brazaitis is concerned that GM varieties of the plant could take its place. “When you lose biodiversity in the plant world, these varieties no longer exist and you become completely dependent on things like GMOs to provide food,” he says.
He says it's important to maintain heirloom varieties. This is because breeds are constantly adapting to new environments. USDA Organic certified products do not accept GM varieties.
Francis argues that biodiversity is thriving in the tomato world.
“Some of the research my group has done on tomatoes shows very conclusively that the modern tomatoes we use today are more genetically diverse than the heirloom tomatoes of old,” says Francis.
One of the main reasons is that they have been bred with wild tomato genes for disease resistance and nutritional content, which actually broadens the gene pool of our food.