UF researchers have been working to create a better-tasting tomato and a way to keep it fresh longer.
Harry Klee, a professor in the horticultural sciences department at UF, said the ultimate goal of his roughly 12 years of work was to create a tastier tomato and to benefit consumer health.
“We think that if we make stuff that tastes pretty good, it’ll improve diets,” he said.
Klee said he and other researchers are hoping that a seed company will pick up the two varieties of hybrid tomatoes they developed.
Sean Eason, a 21-year-old UF English senior, said he likes the current taste of tomatoes but said the research is a good thing.
“If healthier eating tastes better, I suppose more people will be more into it,” he said, “and that’s always a good idea.”
In addition to the tomato research, four years of research by UF and the University of California, Davis, on “modified atmosphere packaging” is coming to an end.
Jeff Brecht, a UF research foundation professor, was involved in the project and said that the goal was “to get fresher, riper foods.”
The new packaging method works because it is made with a semi-permeable layer that allows oxygen to move out of the packaging. As the plant respirates, the packaging will allow the oxygen and carbon dioxide to separate, slowing down the metabolism of the fruit or vegetable, as well as the fungi that may be on it.
Although this packaging may drive up food costs, Brecht said graduate students will be surveying people to see how much more or less they would be willing to pay for the packaging.
Darin Jagnarine, a 19-year-old UF biomedical engineering sophomore, said he wouldn’t mind paying a little extra for foods in the new packaging.
This story has been changed to reflect an editing error: The packaging will allow the oxygen and carbon dioxide to separate, not the oxygen and carbon monoxide. A version of this story ran on page 4 on 1/7/2014 under the headline "Researchers develop healthier tomatoes, improved packages"
