Moolec Science SA, a seed producer trying to break into the alternative meat market, received clearance from the US Department of Agriculture for its soybeans that are genetically modified to include pork protein. Moolec, a unit of Argentine biotech group Bioceres, listed in New York last year. It has been working on inserting pork genes into soy, and beef genes into peas to create hybrid plant-animal proteins that can replace actual meat in sausages and burgers while satisfying meat-eaters’ palates. While the USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service said the pork-infused soy doesn’t pose an increased risk of pests, and therefore doesn’t need regulating, it said other agencies including the Food and Drug Administration may subject the seeds to requirements for full clearance. Bloomberg

 

 

Genetically engineering crops to be colourful could help farmers produce food without using herbicides, as it would make it easier to spot weeds, scientists have said. This will be increasingly important as hardy, climate-resistant “weeds” are grown for food in the future, the authors have written in their report published in the journal Trends in Plant Science. The lead author Michael Palmgren, a plant scientist from the University of Copenhagen, told the Guardian: “It can be modifications of hairs, leaf shape, light emitted at wavelength we cannot see. Anything could work on a large scale. The challenge of distinguishing a weed from a crop becomes imminent when we start breeding weeds.” He said new crops were hard to distinguish from weeds, so it would be important to find a way to tell them apart. The paper suggests the crops’ genomes could be altered so they express pigments such as anthocyanins, which give blueberries their colour, or carotenoids, which make carrots orange. [GMW: This ludicrous idea clearly shows that GM is a technology in search of any justification for its use, however absurd. However, making GM crops a strange colour might be useful as an aid to "activist weeding" or as a built-in form of GMO labelling, in cases where regulators refuse to require it.] The Guardian

 

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