{"id":1184746,"date":"2026-09-03T20:34:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T20:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1184746\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T20:34:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T20:34:21","slug":"gene-edited-strawberries-and-vitamin-d-tomatoes-set-to-be-sold-in-britain-for-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1184746\/","title":{"rendered":"Gene-edited strawberries and vitamin D tomatoes set to be sold in Britain for first time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gene-edited fruit could be sold in British supermarkets for the first time, with specially bred strawberries and vitamin D-enriched tomatoes moving closer to hitting shelves.<\/p>\n

The Government is poised to grant marketing notices for the precision-bred products, which will also require Food Standards Agency approval before they can eventually be sold to consumers.<\/p>\n

Among the crops are “sunshine” tomatoes developed by scientists at the John Innes Centre in Norfolk, which contain enhanced levels of vitamin D.<\/p>\n

The tomatoes can provide vitamin D levels equivalent to two eggs or 28 grams of tuna.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, eight strawberry varieties developed by American agricultural company Simplot have been precision-bred to produce fruit over a longer period.<\/p>\n

Scientists say the changes could extend the British strawberry-growing season without altering the fruit’s taste or nutritional profile.<\/p>\n

Shoppers will not see labels identifying the products as gene-edited when they eventually reach supermarket shelves.<\/p>\n

Gene editing involves making small, targeted alterations to a plant’s existing DNA and differs from genetic modification, which can involve introducing new genetic material.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Among the crops are ‘sunshine’ tomatoes developed by scientists at the John Innes Centre in Norfolk<\/p>\n

| GETTY<\/p>\n

Defra has said the biofortified tomatoes could help tackle what it described as “endemic vitamin D deficiency” in Britain.<\/p>\n

Scientists developed the tomatoes by deactivating a gene responsible for producing an enzyme that converts vitamin D3 into cholesterol, allowing the nutrient to accumulate.<\/p>\n

Professor Cathie Martin, who heads the laboratory behind the tomatoes, said: “This is an important step in getting the tomato approved to go to market in England.”<\/p>\n

She added that the vitamin-enriched variety “could one day be a low-cost, simple, plant-based solution that can improve diets across the world”.<\/p>\n

\"Strawberries\"\/<\/p>\n

Scientists say the changes could extend the British strawberry-growing season without altering the fruit’s taste or nutritional profile<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

For the strawberries, scientists switched off specific genes to allow the plants to produce fruit across a longer period.<\/p>\n

Dr Penny Hundleby, of the John Innes Centre, said: “By extending the fruiting period, they could help increase the availability of British strawberries and reduce reliance on imports, all without changing the taste, flavour or nutritional profile of the fruit.”<\/p>\n

Diego Durantini, programme manager at the John Innes Centre, said: “Vitamin D deficiency is a growing problem and we are excited that our biofortified tomato could soon be a wide reaching solution to this issue.”<\/p>\n

Other precision-bred crops to have secured Defra marketing notices include disease-resistant potatoes, high-fat barley designed for cattle feed and wheat containing reduced levels of a chemical associated with cancer.<\/p>\n

\"Defra\"\/<\/p>\n

Defra has said the biofortified tomatoes could help tackle what it described as ‘endemic vitamin D deficiency’ in Britain<\/p>\n

| PA<\/p>\n

But the development comes amid uncertainty over the future of gene-edited crops in Britain as the Government pursues closer ties with Brussels.<\/p>\n

The Telegraph reported last month that gene-edited crops risk being prohibited in Britain as part of Labour’s EU-reset deal.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has faced calls from politicians and industry figures to resist demands from Brussels that could restrict the technology.<\/p>\n

Before leaving office, Sir Keir Starmer had been involved in negotiations with the bloc aimed at bringing British and European food product standards into closer alignment.<\/p>\n

Such an agreement could threaten Britain’s more permissive approach to precision breeding, which was introduced following Brexit.<\/p>\n

The EU maintains stricter rules surrounding gene-edited crops, although the bloc has been moving towards reforming its approach to the technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gene-edited fruit could be sold in British supermarkets for the first time, with specially bred strawberries and vitamin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1184747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[11],"tags":[1203,105,388,12,512,16,15],"class_list":["post-1184746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-food","tag-health","tag-lifestyle","tag-news","tag-sgg","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117209023379177961","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1184746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1184747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1184746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1184746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1184746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}