USDA Announces Nonregulated Status for Innate™ Potato

On November 7, 2014, the USDA announced that is has deregulated Innate™ potatoes, which enables them to be sold in the U.S.

Here is a statement from the J.R. Simplot Company on the announcement:

“The J.R. Simplot Company is pleased that the USDA has deregulated Innate™ potatoes, enabling them to be sold in the United States. This approval comes after a decade of scientific development, safety assessments and extensive field tests. Innate™ potatoes contain genes from wild and cultivated potatoes, grow naturally just like conventional potatoes, and introduce no new allergens. Simplot is looking forward to the completion of the FDA review process before Innate™ is introduced into the marketplace in limited test markets in the spring.

Innate™ potatoes have approximately 40% less bruise caused by impact and pressure during harvest and storage than conventional potatoes and have lower levels of asparagine. With full market penetration for its varieties sold in the U.S., Innate™ will reduce annual potato waste by an estimated 400 million lbs. in the food service and retail industries and a significant portion of the estimated 3 billion lbs. discarded by consumers. For these reasons, we believe Innate™ potatoes will be a more sustainable option when compared to their conventional varieties and will provide a healthy choice for consumers.”

Simplot expects to license the potatoes to select partners for test markets in 2015.