The first ever genetically engineered crop to be commercialized was the FLAVR SAVR tomato. Although the product initially experienced scientific and sales success, it eventually resulted in commercial demise (Bruenings & Lyons, 2000). The FLAVR SAVR tomato was a scientific success because the scientists behind this product were able to suppress the accumulation of polygalacturonase (PG) by introducing a reverse orientation copy of the gene which was designed to prevent or drastically reduce the formation of PG. Polygalacturonase is the enzyme believed to be the key component involved in fruit softening because of its ability to dissolve cell-wall pectin. Thus the engineers of the FLAVR SAVR tomato were able to effectively drastically increase the time in which tomatoes softened and thus enabled the fruit to be preserved longer (Bruenings & Lyons, 2000). This feat had the additional achievement of allowing the fruit to be picked at the time it was ripe in place of the traditional practice of picking the fruit when it is still green and subsequently spraying the fruit with an ethylene treatment to artificially ripen the fruit. Thus FLAVR SAVR tomatoes were able to be picked when they were actually ripe, bringing the promise of better flavor, and did not have to be sprayed with a chemical to artificially ripen them (Bruenings & Lyons, 2000). Although data submitted by Calgene researchers who were working on the tomato, showed that PG antisense tomatoes were indistinguishable in almost every way from regular tomatoes except for the fact that fruit cell wall pectin degraded more slowly and tomato paste had a higher viscosity, the product was eventually doomed for failure. Initially, however, demand for the product was high when first introduced on May 21, 1994. But unfortunately, this could not offset high production costs and distribution costs and so the product was never profitable. The tomato paste, however, was able to be produced with 20% lower production costs than typical tomato paste and sold more than 1.8 million cans from 1996 to early 1999 while being clearly marked as a GMO. The success of the FLAVR SAVR tomato began to diminish drastically after a 1998 British broadcast featuring Dr. Arpad Pusztai announced that feeding rats genetically modified potatoes resulted in biological effects that “could” be attributed to genetic engineering. In a subsequent study commissioned by Dr. Pusztai, however, and his testimony to the U.K. House of Commons indicated that his conclusions previously stated on the broadcast were incorrect (Bruenings & Lyons, 2000). Despite this, it was too late for the FLAVR SAVR tomato as the genetically engineered are no longer on shelves and we continue to consume tomatoes that are artificially ripened through the use of a chemical to the green tomatoes after they have been picked.
Bruenings, G., & Lyons, J.M. (2000, July 1). The case of the FLAVR SAVR tomato. University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources. http://calag.ucanr.edu/Archive/?article=ca.v054n04p6
Image by Chilmaid, Martin F. from Science Photo Library. https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/211989/view/genetically-engineered-tomatoes