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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.
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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 ↗