LeadForward Vol.1 No. 1

According to Norfolk Healthy Produce, more than 13,000 purple tomato seed orders have already been shipped. Regulatory Approval The GM purple tomato was deregulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 2022. According to a statement from the USDA, the GM purple tomato is not subject to regulation by the USDA because it does not pose a plant pest risk: “With respect to Norfolk Plant Sciences’ purple tomato, we did not identify any plausible pathways to increased plant pest risk compared to other cultivated tomatoes and issued a response letter indicating the plant is not subject to regulation,” it said in the statement. In 2023, the purple tomato received a “no questions” letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which means the purple tomato is considered “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) and, therefore, does not require premarket review or approval by the FDA. To qualify for GRAS status, Norfolk Plant Sciences submitted data from tests conducted internally.

The lack of safety testing by the USDA and FDA, and reliance on data generated by the company that will profit from approval of its own product, have led to some experts calling for a more comprehensive safety assessment. Safety Concerns and Health Claims Data provided to the FDA by Norfolk Plant Sciences demonstrates the company conducted various safety tests. However, critics argue the tests are insufficient to guarantee the safety of the purple tomato for human consumption. According to an FDA memo dated June 13, 2023, tests conducted by Norfolk Plant Sciences mainly focused on six areas. Of those, four were relatively straightforward while two have raised safety concerns among experts, according to GM Watch. The Straight Forward Tests 1. PCR and Southern blot analyses were conducted by Norfolk Plant Sciences to determine if the snapdragon foreign DNA was inserted into the tomato DNA. The company (Norfolk Plant Sciences) stated that insertion of the foreign DNA was confirmed.

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