The Flavr Savr Tomato - The World's First Genetically Engineered Food

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2017

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1994, biotech company Calgene brought the world's first genetically modified food to supermarket shelves.

The Flavr Savr tomato kept fresh for 30 days and could be shipped long distances without going off.

Yet the world was wary of this new food, and it took 10 years and $100m of investment to get it to market.

In 2017, Calgene's then-CEO Roger Salquist told Claire Bowes about his mission to revolutionise the world's food.

(Photo: Roger Salquist with a crop of Flavr Savrs. Credit: Richard Salquist)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless
0:06.8	searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the
0:11.8	telly we share what we've been watching
0:14.0	Cladie Aide.
0:16.0	Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming.
0:19.0	Lovely. Off the telly with me Joanna Paige.
0:21.0	And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less
0:24.9	searching and a lot more watching listen on BBC sounds. Choosing what to
0:32.1	watch night after night the flicking through the endless
0:36.5	searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the
0:41.5	telly we share what we've been watching.
0:43.7	Cladie Aide!
0:45.7	Loads of games, loads of fun, loads of screaming.
0:48.2	Lovely.
0:49.0	Off the telly with me Joanna Paige.
0:51.2	And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less
0:54.7	searching and a lot more watching listen on BBC sounds hello you're
1:00.3	listening to the witness podcast history as told by the people who were there.
1:05.2	And today we're going back to 1994 when the tomato became the first genetically engineered
1:11.2	food to go on sale anywhere in the world. It was
1:15.1	developed by an American company to ripen more gradually and stay fresh for longer.
1:20.3	They called it the flavor saver. I'm Claire Bose and I've been speaking to the man who came up with the idea.
	...

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