Biofortified or Ordinary Lettuce - They Taste the Same

Once available in the market, is it possible to distinguish whether the lettuce in a hamburger sandwich is GM or not by taste alone? There is no difference in flavor, bitterness or crispness between calcium-biofortified lettuce and conventional lettuce. This was the finding of a study on “ Sensory analysis of calcium-biofortified lettuce” by Sunghun Park of Kansas State University and colleagues published in the online Plant Biotechnology Journal. Sensory analysis studies are important to determine efficacy of biofortified foods and an important component in the public acceptance of genetically modified foods.

The research team demonstrated that lettuce expressing the deregulated Arabidopsis H⁺/Ca²⁺ transporter sCAX1 (cation exchanger 1) contained 25%–32% more calcium than controls. These biofortified lettuce lines were fertile and demonstrated robust growth in glasshouse growth conditions.

Read the research abstract at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121451954/abstract or email Sunghun Park at shpark@ksu.edu.