Norwich, United Kingdom
May 9, 2016

DEFRA have approved The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich’s application to conduct field trials of GM potato crops on a designated trial site at the Norwich Research Park between 2016 and 2020.

The field trials are part of the TSL’s Potato Partnership Project to develop a Maris Piper potato that is blight and nematode resistant, bruises less and produces less acrylamide when cooked at high temperatures. The project is majority funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) with additional funding from industry partners BioPotatoes (UK) and Simplot (US).

Welcoming the decision Professor Jonathan Jones said:

“I am delighted that we have approval for the field trials necessary to test our potato plants in standard field conditions. We will spend the rest of this year making sure we can get the desired traits into Maris Piper plants and plan to conduct field trials from next year onwards.”

For further information about the project go to: http://www.tsl.ac.uk/news/new-potato-at-the-sainsbury-laboratory/

Website: http://www.simplot.com/home/index.htm

Published: May 9, 2016