A small US-based company has applied for approval to sell a genetically modified tomato rich in the beneficial pigments found in blueberries. Even richer, in fact, than blueberries themselves.

Purple tomatoes contain significantly higher levels of antioxidant pigments. Image credit: Big Purple Tomato

The purple “superfood” could soon make it to your dining table after a small company called Norfolk Plant Sciences applied for approval and is confident it could go on sale in the US soon, New Scientist reports. The unique coloration of the new variety is due to its boosted anthocyanin content – the pigment in blueberries that makes them a superfood.

Big Purple Tomato is the brainchild of Cathie Martin at the John Innes Centre in the UK, and is based on a body of research that found mice lived 30 percent longer when their diet was supplemented with purple tomato, rich in anthocyanins.

“Dietary consumption of anthocyanins, a class of pigments produced by higher plants, has been associated with protection against a broad range of human diseases,” the researchers reported in a paper published in Nature Biotechnology. “However, anthocyanin levels in the most commonly eaten fruits and vegetables may be inadequate to confer optimal benefits.”

To address this, they engineered an anthocyanin-rich tomato with an antioxidant capacity increased threefold – which is also responsible for the tomato’s purple makeover.

Image credit: Levon Biss for The New York Times/Big Purple Tomato

“Tomatoes have about 30,000 genes, and naturally produces anthocyanins in [the] leaves and stem,” Nathan Pumplin from Big Purple Tomato told IFLScience. “[The purple tomato] was engineered with two extra genes from snapdragon, that turn on production of tomato’s natural purple anthocyanins in fruits.”

Of course, we shouldn’t expect people who regularly eat the purple tomato to live 30 per cent longer, as in mouse models, but the elevated anthocyanin content definitely carries extra benefits compared to other varieties. The new tomato also differs in having purple flesh.

Image credit: Big Purple Tomato

Beside being stuffed with antioxidants, the new tomatoes are also environmentally friendly as they boast double the shelf life of the average tomato, resulting in less food waste.

“If we can reduce the amount of food waste, that can have a huge impact,” said Pumplin.

The purple tomatoes are being crossed with other varieties to create new ones, from purple cherry tomatoes to a purple beefsteak variety.

The tomato’s rollout preparation has been sped along by a 2019 biotechnology regulation shake-up in the United States that created a simpler process of approval for low-risk items.

Image credit: Norfolk Plant Sciences

“We are working with US regulatory agencies (USDA and FDA) to gain approval,” Pumplin explained. “We are also exploring partnerships with companies in the tomato supply chain to bring our products to market, and continuing to breed the purple nutrients into more delicious tomato varieties.”

If successful, shoppers can expect both the fruits in stores and seeds available to purchase for growing your own at home.

From purple ketchup to purple soup, the possibilities are endless.