Invented in Norwich: purple, superfood tomatoes

Something delicious, juicy and purple is on the horizon.

Any day now it will become legal in the UK to farm, market and sell a new category of super-foods that has been Invented in Norwich.

Secondary legislation for the Precision Breeding Act 2023 has reached the House of Lords. Maybe it doesn't sound super sexy when I say it like that. But for foodies (and we're all foodies when the dinner gong goes) it really is: at the risk of sounding like a fangirl, it could result in a healthier, tastier way of eating. And it has far-reaching ramifications for public health.

"We have a concentration of experts on precision breeding in Norwich," says Dr Mimi Tanimoto, policy and public affairs manager at the John Innes Centre. "[This legislation] is a massive opportunity for England and Norwich in particular to become a leader in new forms of breeding sustainable and environmentally friendly crops."

This is because the labs and greenhouses of the John Innes Centre's Professor Cathie Martin, on Colney Lane, have been engineering tomatoes, several individual varieties of which contain high concentrations of vitamin D, anthocyanin, resveratrol and omega 3 fatty acids: all powerful forces in human health.

And it turns out that many of the compounds in fruit and vegetables that make them better for us, also make them tastier.

Until now it has not been possible to farm, market or sell these tomatoes in the UK, as the technique used to produce most of them - called "precision breeding"- is new and requires legislation to allow it. However, the US has embraced the technique, getting itself a small head start.

In the US, a cohort of researchers is trying to improve Professor Martin's tomatoes by increasing their disease resistance. And in China, where vitamin D deficiency is a significant public health worry, field trials of the same tomatoes are underway, she says.

Significantly, tomatoes have the power to reach sections of the population whose diet most needs improving because tomatoes are found even in a western "junk food" diet - as pizza and ketchup. Meanwhile vitamin D deficiency has been linked to both obesity and poor mental health.

"I wanted all the health benefits of eating blueberries, which are rich in anthocyanins. But I'm a type one diabetic," said Professor Martin. "So the difficulty with blueberries for me is that the anthocyanin comes loaded with sugar. These [purple] tomatoes don't have the same issue."

Similarly resveratrol, omega 3 fatty acids and vitamin D contain an enormous number of health benefits, in the form of anti-inflammatory, cardiovascular and anti-cancer properties, among others.

But what about GM (genetic modification) nay-sayers? Or tabloids that were screaming about "Frankenstein foods" twenty years ago? Will they also be against precision breeding?

Waitrose's press office declined an opportunity to say something for this article about where public opinion stands on precision breeding. It directed me instead to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), saying that the industry should move forward together.

Andrew Opie, the BRC's director of food and sustainability, said: "There are merits in further exploring the use of precision breeding. We are supportive of the technology and its potential to make a contribution to increased sustainability and security of food supply chains. However, any policy has to be developed in the context of consumer acceptability, safety, and the wider financial implications for our UK farmer suppliers.”

Precision breeding is different in one very important way from genetic modification (GM), I understand. Precision breeding results in genetic changes that could only have occurred naturally or through traditional breeding methods. So plants and animals created by precision breeding are indistinguishable from traditionally bred counterparts. They have just been created more quickly and purposefully.

And here's a thing.

Part of the reason why the UK lags behind the US and China on precision breeding is its history of being in the EU, where strong public sentiment against GM food affected the law. The two main worries were (1) a perceived food-safety risk and (2) the concern that a few large companies (such as Monsanto, which famously produced GM seeds that farmers had to buy every year, instead of using one crop to seed the next) could grab too much control over our food.

"I'm with the EU on the second part: I don't want all my food produced by just three or four companies," said Professor Martin. "But we have spent the last 15 years looking at the risks of precision breeding. All the evidence is that the risks are the same as - if not lower than - traditional farming."

Years of hearings at Westminster came to the same conclusion, even deciding that precision-bred products don't need to be labelled as such, for fear of creating a false perception of risk.

The EU is now having its own hearings on precision breeding.

Dr Tanimoto said: "Personally, I think that farmers will grow precision-bred tomatoes and supermarkets will stock them."

This idea has momentum. The secondary legislation - coming any day, there is a hearing on 6 May - has cross-party support: the primary legislation was passed by the previous, Conservative government. And the new Labour government apparently sees the economic benefits of becoming a global force in this market.

So what's the bigger picture?

By 2050 the global population is projected to be 10 billion people - up from around 8 billion now - and the world will need a lot more food than it currently produces. With an aging population, chronic diseases are an issue for health services everywhere. So food that is nutritionally denser - food as medicine - is a no-brainer.

The growing demand for weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro demonstrates that people are prepared to put their hands in their pockets to be healthy - which flies in the face of supermarkets' perceived wisdom. Some commentators believe that the global food industry - which has given the world an epidemic of obesity - will soon be forced to adapt by offering healthier options and smaller portions.

So that is the background. Along the way, Professor Martin's story has also had some very human drama. There was a tragic carjacking in Brazil that killed a Canadian entrepreneur called Dean Tiessen, who was bringing a juice made from Professor Martin's purple tomatoes to market eleven years ago: one of many setbacks.

And I'm struck by Professor Martin's marketing acumen.

In one corner of the giant John Innes Centre greenhouse, when I was there on one of the first sunny days of spring this year, there was a beautiful vitamin-D-enriched tomato with golden waves lapping around it, that looked for all the world like a sunrise, or a sun enveloped by luminous solar winds. It turned out that this appearance was deliberate.

"We want people to know by looking at them, that these are sunshine tomatoes, full of vitamin D. I think..." Professor Martin paused for a moment. "I think this is why I am a bit different to most scientists. The thing about marketing is that you have to do most of it yourself."

• If you enjoyed this 24hournorwich article, here's one about a 17th century dog who lived in Tombland. And another about the Norwich man who made the rhino harness in Ridley Scott's Gladiator 2. You can also read more about 24hournorwich.
• Do please follow 24hournorwich by signing up at the top of the website. It's free and will remain so for the forseeable future. Our business model is all about mobile advertising. If you'd like to see our business plan, please contact me on emma@24hourlondon.co.uk