When Was Genetically Modified Food Produced for the First Time?
When Was Genetically Modified Food Produced for the First Time? Farmers and biologists have been changing the genetic makeup of our food for centuries. The first genetically modified food produced by genetic engineering and approved for sales was the Flavr Savr tomato, produced by Calgene, a US company.
A modified gene made it firmer, allowing it to be picked later without its being too soft to transport. This meant it had more flavor.
Genetically modified foods or GM foods, also genetically engineered foods, are foods produced from organisms that have had changes introduced into their DNA using the methods of genetic engineering.
Genetic engineering techniques allow for the introduction of new traits as well as greater control over traits than previous methods such as selective breeding and mutation breeding.
Taken as a whole, the controlled cultivation of plants initiated a completely new era for man. The basic genetic facts of plant breeding go back to the work of an Austrian Monk, Gregor Mendel.
By crossing different strains of peas, he discovered that organisms inherit their characteristics in a way governed by mathematical laws. He published his results in 1866. But it was only in 1900, a Dutch Botanist Hugo De Vries realized their importance to modern biology.