BASF applies for approval of second GM starch potato

Chemical business BASF has applied for approval of its second genetically modified starch potato. The European Commission approved the company’s first GM potato - the Amflora potato - for commercial production of industrial starch in May this year.

The Amadea potato, like Amflora, produces pure amylopectin starch. Its agronomic properties and safety have been tested in field trials conducted over a number of years, says BASF, which is expecting to launch the product in 2013/14 after receiving a positive safety assessment by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

Amadea is initially intended to complement Amflora cultivation and will later substitute BASF’s first starch potato.

German Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, Rainer Brüderle, helped to harvest the first commercially produced Amflora potatoes in Zepkow in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania last week.

Together with BASF chairman Dr Jürgen Hambrecht and Dr Stefan Marcinowski, member of BASF’s board of executive directors responsible for plant biotechnology, the Minister harvested the first tubers of the GM potatoes.

Farmers and representatives of the German-based Forum Grüne Vernunft e.V (Forum for Green Common Sense) were also present at the Amflora harvest, says BASF.