Potato biotech companies in the US continue to focus on production and underline the benefits of biotechnology, while lawmakers in debate the GMO subject and legislation.

On July 14, the US Congress passed a bill which will require specific labeling to indicate whether food contains genetically engineered ingredients. According to US media, this bill is seen as a compromise between GMO opponents, who wanted stricter labeling standards and food companies/farm groups who rejected such labeling altogether.

“Consumers have said they want healthier products with fewer pesticides, and they want a better overall quality so they can save money and have assurance they can serve a healthier product to their family,” said Doug Cole, marketing and communications director for J.R. Simplot’s biotechnology division, Simplot Plant Sciences. “That’s what we’re doing with White Russet potatoes, and that’s what you are seeing other biotech companies working on,” Cole said, quoted by the Associated Press.

Although the compromise bill has drawn criticism on both sides, the White House said President Barack Obama will sign the bill.

GMO=genetic engineering=biotechnology?

GMO means genetically modified organism and is used as a synonym for genetic engineering. However, the USFDA prefers the latter term, because it is more precise. On the other hand, companies such as Simplot use the term biotech to describe their engineered products. It is important to note that genetic modification can happen naturally, for example by cross pollination between two species of plants, in nature, while genetic engineering entails the work of scientists using means of introducing new characteristics to an organism, with the purpose of, for example giving plants traits that make them better crops.

“There’s everything in some form that has been genetically modified,” Cole said. “‘Biotech’ infers generally accepted terminology scientific communication — that it was done in a secure, scientific environment.”

Simplot, which has a large facility in Caldwell, has no issue with the national food labeling bill, as it has been voluntarily labeling its biotech potatoes since May 2015, Cole explained. Each bag of White Russet, the only one of its biotech products in stores, has a QR code, web address and 1-800 number that leads to information about the company’s biotech origins.

So far, no one has really complained to the company about its new potato, the marketing and communications director added.

“They are surprised when it’s nothing more than potato genes back in other potatoes,” Cole said.

He also said Simplot’s biotech work has nothing to do with pesticides, as Generation 2 being naturally resistant to leaf blight will mean fewer pesticides are required by growers.