Tomatoes
Market Status
There are no genetically engineered (genetically modified or GM) tomatoes on the market in Canada but a genetically engineered Purple Tomato™ has been approved for sale in Canada (August 2025).
The slow-ripening GM Flavr Savr™ was approved for eating in Canada in 1995 but taken off the market by Monsanto in 1997.
December 15, 2025: GM Product Alert: Genetically Engineered Purple Tomato Seeds & Fruit Approved in Canada
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Updates
Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency have approved the genetically engineered Purple Tomato™ (Del/Ros1-N) from Norfolk Health Produce for “Increased anthocyanins in the fruit.” The seeds could soon be sold to home gardeners via the company’s website. Unlike many future gene-edited GMOs that are exempt from pre-market regulation, this GM tomato was assessed for food safety by Health Canada and it was assessed for environmental safety by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (as of December 4, 2025, the CFIA decision document is not posted).
- CBAN Press Release – December 16, 2025: Farmers warn home gardeners about genetically engineered vegetable seeds coming soon
- CBAN Briefing – December 15, 2025: GM Product Alert: Genetically Engineered Purple Tomato Seeds & Fruit Approved in Canada
- CBAN Report – Updated December 2, 2025: Gene-Edited Fruits and Vegetables: The Threat of New GMOs in Canada
- CBAN Briefing – November 2025: Alert: Genetically Modified Garden Seeds
October 2025 – GM Tomato Efficacy Test: A 21-day study on humans will be conducted to investigate if a gene-edited tomato (from the John Innes Centre, UK) can increase Vitamin D levels in humans. This is not a food safety study. Read more from GMWatch.
The Purple Tomato™
December 15, 2025: GM Product Alert: Genetically Engineered Purple Tomato Seeds & Fruit Approved in Canada
“We’re exploring it now and will likely be active next year on the Canadian front. What’s really important for us is to show in a market or test in a market, is this something that a lot of consumers really want?” – Nathan Pumplin, CEO, Norfolk Plant Sciences, US, 2023.
The Purple Tomato™ is approved for growing and eating in Canada (August 2025). It is also approved in the US and sold in a small number of US grocery stores as the “Empress Limited Edition Tomato” packaged for stores by Red Sun Farms. It is also sold as seeds for home gardeners and small growers in the US on Norfolk Healthy Produce’s website and has been sold as seedlings and fruit at a few farmers’ markets in the US.
The company Norfolk Healthy Produce says the Purple Tomato™ was engineered for “health and nutrition.” It was genetically engineered with two genes from snapdragon flowers, to increase the plant’s anthocyanin production which is also makes the tomato purple. Anthocyanins are a type of flavonoid that has antioxidant properties. Media headlines over the years have claimed this GM tomato can fight cancer because of the health benefits associated with anthocyanins. However, there are already non-GM purple tomato varieties on the market, that have been bred using traditional breeding methods to contain higher levels of anthocyanins, such as the varieties Indigo Cherry Drops, Indigo Rose, Indigo Pear Drops, and Midnight Roma, bred through Oregon State University’s breeding program led by Dr. Jim Myers.
Norfolk Healthy Produce enforces patent protection over their GM seeds but tells gardeners that they may save and share the patented seeds as long as they do not sell them: “Growers can save the seeds and enjoy the plants and fruits in your home garden and with your local community.” Saving and sharing the seeds means that GM contamination will occur.
There has already been confusion and controversy over this product when, in 2024, a well-known, non-GM heirloom seed company in the US sourced and advertised a purple tomato variety that may have been the GM tomato or was contaminated by it.
- GM purple tomato company targets non-GMO seed company over alleged patent infringement. GMWatch. March 12, 2024.
- Rotten tomato: Biotech company makes false claim about its GMO purple tomato. Ken Roseboro, The Organic and Non-GMO Report. April 9, 2024.
- December 10, 2025: GM Product Alert: Genetically Engineered Purple Tomato Seeds & Fruit Approved in Canada
The Flavr Savr™ Tomato
1995-1997
The first GM food approved in Canada (and the US) was the “Flavr Savr” tomato from the company Calgene, which was later bought by Monsanto. It was genetically modified to soften at a slower rate, so that the tomato could stay ripening on the vine longer, before being picked for transport “resulting in more flavour.” (Tomatoes are generally picked unripe so they can survive transport to grocery stores and have a longer shelf-life).
The “Flavr Savr” was launched in the US in 1994 and approved in Canada in 1995, but was taken off the market by Monsanto in 1997.
Despite the disappearance of the “Flavr Savr,” the industry was still using it as an example to advertise the consumer benefits of genetic engineering three years later: An information kit circulated in 2000 in Canada, from the industry public relations group called the Council for Biotechnology Information (funded by Monsanto and other biotech nology companies) said, “Biotechnology is producing food that tastes better and stays fresh longer. Our new type of tomato ripens slowly, keeping it fresh for longer periods of time.”
Dr. Belinda Martineau, the former genetic engineer who developed the Calgene GM tomato, describes that they inadvertently inserted bacterial DNA into the Flavr Savr tomatoes and discovered the error before commercialization.
- Read about it in her article We need the whole truth to regulate GMOs, Biotech Salon, July 15, 2023.
- Read more in her book: Martineau, Belinda. First Fruit: The creation of the Flavr Savr™ tomato and the birth of biotech food. McGraw-Hill, 2001.
