About 1,5 million tons of potatoes are thrown annually in the world.
The American company JR Simplot is developing a new variety of potatoes that will not go to landfills.
In particular, scientists are trying to create plants with tubers that will be less damaged and subject to color changes. Thanks to this, potatoes will more often end up on consumer plates than in waste, writes Fruit-inform, citing innovature.
The company notes that annually about 1,5 million tons of potatoes are thrown around the world. That would be enough to feed a portion of mashed potatoes to 6 billion people, or almost six times the population of China.
In the United States alone, 150 thousand tons of food per day are thrown away. 40% of this volume is fruits and vegetables. In global terms, food that goes to landfills would be enough to feed 2 billion people. This is significantly more than the number of hungry people in the world.
In addition, food waste causes about 7% of all greenhouse gas emissions. So they contribute to climate change.
At JR Simplot, 80% of the discarded potatoes came from households, restaurants, and shops. Consumers throw away tubers if they are damaged or the peel changes color. But at the same time, the product is still safe.
Therefore, the company decided to resort to editing genes and make some changes to the DNA of the plant. As a result, the new variety will be more attractive to consumers.
By the way, JR Simplot already has positive experience in applying its method on mushrooms and plans to test it on avocados in the future.