LETTER: Under the skin of mutant tomatoes

Mr Charlie Harris
Friday 15 December 1995 19:02 EST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

From Mr Charlie Harris

Sir: When food such as a tomato rots, a number of chemical reactions take place, in which many different nutrients deteriorate at different rates. Some deteriorate remarkably rapidly.

Genetically engineered food may preserve the appearance of freshness, but does it preserve the freshness of all the nutrients involved (News Analysis: "Engineering a plateful of trouble?", 14 December)? Some attributes - such as bright colour and firm skin - are indicators that the food inside is fresh.

But if growers can interfere with the indicators, we can no longer trust what the appearance is telling us.

To put it another way, does genetic engineering keep food fresh - or does it keep it stale?

Yours,

Charlie Harris

London, NW3

15 December

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in