Key Points
Last year, startup Pairwise started selling the first food in the US made with Crispr technology: a new type of mustard greens with an adjusted flavor..
The company introduced the greens to the food service industryselect restaurants, cafeterias, hotels, retirement centers, and caterersin just a few cities..
We see our role in the food chain as inventing new products, he says.. The first Crispr-edited food available to consumers debuted in Japan in 2021 when Tokyo-based startup Sanatech Seed began selling a tomato with high levels of -aminobutyric acid, or GABA, a chemical made in the brain and also found naturally in some foods..
Bayer and Pairwise are hoping this distinction will make consumers more open to gene-edited foods than traditional GMOs, which have faced consumer backlash in the US and elsewhere..
I think its really important to come first with consumer products and really help them understand the technology, he says.. Ultimately, taste and affordability may be more important to consumers than the technology used to produce the greens, says Khara Grieger, assistant professor of environmental health and risk assessment at North Carolina State University...
