An innovative produce, known as the Purple Tomato, marks a milestone as the first genetically modified food crop that’s biofortified and available directly to home gardeners. It hit the market February 3; its creators hope to sell the plant’s health benefits as its chief drawing point.

The tomato is rich in anthocyanins, found in superfoods such as blueberries, blackberries, eggplant and purple cabbage. The color and nutrients are transgenics of the snapdragon. Researchers said in a Nature journal article that mice that ate the purple plant lived 30% longer than their counterparts.  

While consumers in the past have been largely skeptical of GMO foods’ safety and value, the tomatoes’ creators hope people will be drawn to the anticancer and anti-inflammatory properties of the anthocyanins, or antioxidants, in the tomatoes.

“People have interest in their quality of life, for longevity and things like this,” Kathleen Hefferon, a microbiologist at Cornell University, said. “I think there has been just a health trend in that regard and it’s going to continue,”

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NPR February 6, 2024