Simple explanation
A Japanese company edited tomatoes to accumulate more GABA, a compound associated with relaxation, by disabling the brake on an enzyme the plant already has. The tomatoes went on sale in 2021 — among the first edited foods sold to the public. Purple tomatoes with higher anthocyanin content have also reached the US market.
Go deeper
Sicilian Rouge High GABA, developed by Sanatech Seed using CRISPR-Cas9 to truncate the autoinhibitory domain of glutamate decarboxylase, was notified to Japanese authorities in 2021 and sold directly to consumers. It required no pre-market approval under Japan's framework because no foreign DNA was introduced. Health claims for dietary GABA are not established, which is a separate question from the safety of the food itself.
Sources
- Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
Sanatech Seed GABA tomato ↗