On October 16, the Consumer Affairs Agency accepted an application from the U.S. company J.R. Simplot for genome-edited potatoes. Following Corteva Agriscience's waxy corn This is the second time that an application from a U.S. company for a genome-edited food product has been accepted. The potato was produced by knocking out a gene involved in controlling the number of tubers produced by the plant, using a cultivar called Vinche, which is small in size but produces twice the usual yield. The move seems to be aimed at the US market, where small potatoes are favored for both home and restaurant use.

Simplot has already received approval to distribute two GM potatoes in Japan. However, as raw potatoes cannot be exported to Japan due to plant quarantine issues, they will have to be processed for export. The potatoes are likely to be used for French fries but are yet to enter the Japanese market. Unlike GM crops, genome-edited crops are easier to market because they do not require food labeling, and it may be that these potatoes will enter the market earlier.

Japan Airlines announced on September 17 that it will start serving chocolate using a precision-fermented sweetening protein called brazzein on some international flights between Tokyo and San Francisco. Brazzein is a protein that is 500 to 2000 times sweeter than sugar. In precision-fermented technology, bacteria are genetically modified to produce only specific ingredients, and the bacteria are grown in a fermentation tank with water, nutrients, and sugar added. Perfect Day already produces milk protein using this technology in the United States, and there are also companies developing food products using this technology in Japan.

Oobli, an American company that manufactures and sells brazzein in partnership with Japan Airlines, has been selling the chocolate in the United States since 2022, but this is the first time it has been sold overseas. Because the chocolate uses GM technology, it is required to go through safety screening before it can be sold in Japan. However, it will be exempt from Japanese regulations, since the chocolate will be offered on international flights and then only on flights originating in the United States, not those originating in Japan. (JAL 2024/9/17)

It has become clear that a research team led by Professor Takashi Yoko'o of the Jikei University School of Medicine will apply to a specially convened university committee for approval to temporarily transplant a pig kidney into a fetus with severe kidney disease. If approved by the committee, an application for approval will be submitted to the government. There has been no experience with xenotransplantation in Japan, and it is highly unusual for the recipient to be a fetus. A special committee will therefore be set up to review the transplantation. An expert committee of the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare is currently working to revise the guidelines to allow xenotransplantation. (Yomiuri Shimbun Online 2024/9/23)

Yoshizaki Goro, a professor at the Graduate School of Science at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, has announced that he and his colleagues have used a fish known as suma (Euthynnus affinis) to produce sperm from bluefin tuna. Suma, a species of fish belonging to the family Scombridae, is widely distributed in temperate, subtropical, and tropical regions and matures in a short time. In the future, Professor Yoshizaki and his team plan to promote egg production and develop ways to produce bluefin tuna rapidly using suma. (Nikkei Biotech 2024/10/4)