Fatless French Fries

The long-life Flavr Savr tomato did not succeed with shoppers, for reasons apparently unrelated to its physical properties. However, bioengineering research has continued unabated.

Other projects currently in development: a less-watery tomato that boils down into paste more efficiently, saving sauce makers millions of dollars; and a tomato that is able to withstand freezing temperatures with the help of a gene from an arctic flounder.

Others are experimenting with especially dense potatoes that suck up less oil when fried.

Dupont is working on creating canola beans that will produce only the most heart-friendly oils, allowing french fry lovers more latitude.

If this "designer food" research bears fruit, observers say, dieters everywhere may not be forced to choose between those incompatible categories: food that tastes good, and food that's good for you. "If you want people to eat more broccoli," says Zinnen, "make a chocolate broccoli."

No one is working on that notion yet, but other projects are equally jaw-dropping.

Researchers are trying to create plants that grow disease-fighting substances known as phytochemicals. Biologists and botanists at Cornell University are looking into using plants as a cheap way to produce vaccines.

Not surprisingly, bioengineering has stirred up a great deal of fear. Environmental groups say scientists are playing with fire. "When you're transferring genes from bacteria that we've never eaten before," says Jane Rissler, a pathologist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, which advocates strict controls on bioengineering, "we don't know what will happen."

Critics argue that bioengineered food could be especially dangerous to allergy sufferers, who might end up eating products laced with genes from allergenic sources. Three years ago, one company had to junk a large project when it realized that the brazil nut protein it was trying to add to soybeans could cause an allergic reaction.

Others, including the federal government, say that bioengineering poses no new risks. The Food and Drug Administration puts bioengineered edibles in the same category as all other food. "There are no unique hazards to this technology," says Jim Maryanski, biotechnology coordinator for the FDA.

What will all of this activity ultimately mean for consumers? No one is sure. "We haven't seen the real impact yet," says David Wheat, an industry analyst who has studied bioengineering extensively. "We are at the beginning of trying to figure out how to use this technology."

Wheat, who works for the Bowditch Group in Boston, believes that bioengineered food could eventually have an enormous effect. However, he says that bioengineering is at a level equivalent to that of automobile technology at the beginning of the century: "It will be 15 to 20 years before we realize what this is actually about."

Written by David Kohn