potatoes

Growing safer potatoes

January 15, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

We are often advised to avoid eating green areas on potatoes. The green comes from chlorophyll that occurs naturally when potatoes are exposed to light. It is harmless but when it is there, it can be accompanied by a natural toxin – a substance called solanine, which is a steroidal glycoalkaloid or SGA. Sunlight can produce solanine as well as chlorophyll. Solanine is produced by plants to protect them from insects.

Solanine is bitter tasting so one is unlikely to consume much of it. But consuming enough of it can lead to gastrointestinal complications like diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting, and sweating.

Researchers at the University of California Riverside have discovered a way to eliminate toxic compounds from potatoes, making them safer to eat and easier to store. They have identified a key genetic mechanism in the production of SGAs. They found a specific protein that controls the production and believe it will be possible to control where and when SGAs are produced. Thus, it may be possible to have SGAs present in the leaves of potato plants, thereby protecting them from insects, while having none in the potatoes themselves. By limiting SGAs to non-edible parts of plants, they can be safer and more versatile plants. For example, modified potatoes could be stored in sunny places without worry and would always be safe to eat.

Plants have evolved ingenious ways to balance growth, reproduction, and defense. Our growing understanding of these mechanisms can allow people to redesign crops to meet modern needs, increase food safety, and reduce food waste.

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Growing safer spuds: Removing toxins from potatoes

Photo, posted October 14, 2013, courtesy of Elton Morris via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Plastic food packaging

May 9, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Reducing the use of plastic is an important environmental goal. Plastic is made from fossil fuels and plastic pollutes the land and the oceans. It is estimated that 40% of plastic waste comes from packaging. Plastic packaging is extremely common in the supermarket and there is a growing desire to reduce its use. But it isn’t that easy.

Plastic packaging works well to slow the decay of vegetables and fruit. Its use results in less produce being tossed into the garbage, where it creates almost 60% of landfill methane emissions. In fact, food is the most common material in landfills. The average American family of four spends $1,500 a year on food that ends up uneaten and nearly half of all household food waste is fruits and vegetables.

Products like bagged salads, berries in plastic clamshells, and plastic sealed potatoes and cucumbers are popular with shoppers because they stay fresh longer. They are popular with grocers because the items don’t have to be weighed. But all these things result in plastic waste. It is a tradeoff that is difficult to make between food quality and safety vs. the environmental harm caused by plastic.

There are a variety of alternatives to plastic packaging of food that are being explored. They range from biodegradable, organic coatings that can take the place of plastic films, to cardboard and paper produce packaging.

But practically, there is yet no affordable and biodegradable plastic alternative that keeps fruits and vegetables safe and fresh. Solving the food packaging problem is not easy.

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So Much Produce Comes in Plastic. Is There a Better Way?

Photo, posted July 1, 2007, courtesy of Brian via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Spiders And Pest Control | Earth Wise

April 5, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Climate change facilitates the spread of invasive pest species by expanding their habitable environment ranges. In conventional agriculture, farmers depend on chemical pesticides to control agricultural pests. But 99% of all synthetic chemicals, including pesticides, are made from fossil fuels, and turning petrochemicals into pesticides requires massive amounts of energy. These chemical pesticides also pollute the air and water, and destroy biodiversity by killing many non-target species as well.

According to new research led by scientists from the University of Portsmouth in the U.K., groups of spiders could be used as an environmentally-friendly way to protect crops against agricultural pests. The study, which was recently published in the journal Insects, suggests that web-building groups of spiders can be used to control populations of the tomato leafminer moth, a devastating pest of commercially important crops like tomatoes and potatoes.

The research team explored the use of tropical tent spiders for this pest control. They are found in colonies around the world, and their range overlaps with regions of moth infestations, including Mediterranean Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

In lab settings, different types of prey were introduced to colonies of spiders of varying body sizes. The research team found that the larger spiders built larger webs and caught more prey, including tomato leafminer moths and fruit flies.

Tropical tent spiders could be an effective and climate-friendly way to control flying insect pests. However, more research is needed to ensure that these spiders don’t negatively impact crop pollination by also catching pollinators.

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Using spiders as environmentally-friendly pest control

Photo, posted June 10, 2018, courtesy of Lies Van Rompaey via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Climate Change And Nutrients

August 15, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Ending hunger isn’t a question of producing enough food. Globally, enough food is produced to feed all 7.7 billion people on the planet. But despite this, approximately 1 in 9 people go hungry. Conflict, natural disasters, and extreme poverty are some of the main drivers of global hunger.

Climate change is another. The more frequent and intense extreme weather events increase food insecurity and malnutrition by destroying land, livestock, crops, and food supplies. Climate change makes growing crops harder every year, especially for those who lack the tools and technology to adapt.

But the challenge of reducing hunger and malnutrition is to not only produce foods that provide enough calories, but to also produce foods that make enough necessary nutrients widely available. According to new research, climate change is projected to significantly reduce the availability of critical nutrients such as protein, iron, and zinc over the next 30 years. The total impact of climate change could reduce global per capita nutrient availability of protein, iron, and zinc by 19.5%, 14.4%, and 14.6%, respectively.

While higher levels of carbon dioxide can boost growth in plants, wheat, rice, corn, barley, potatoes, soybeans, and vegetables are all projected to suffer nutrient losses of about 3% on average by 2050 due to the elevated CO2 levels.

The study, which was co-authored by an international group of researchers and published in the peer-reviewed journal, Lancet Planetary Health, represents the most comprehensive synthesis of the impacts of climate change on the availability of nutrients in the global food supply to date.

Climate change is complicating the quest to end global hunger and malnutrition.

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