The CRISPR-edited wheat is designed to reduce acrylamide formation in baked, fried, roasted and toasted foods.
A new low-asparagine wheat variety has received confirmation of precision-bred status under the U.K.’s Genetic Technology Act, marking a milestone for the use of gene editing to improve food safety.
The decision confirms that the wheat meets the criteria of a precision-bred organism under the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 and the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Regulations 2025. It can now move to the next stage of the process: evaluation by the Food Standards Agency for food and feed use.
If approved, the wheat could be grown on a small number of selected farms and processed in real-world food manufacturing plants as part of the Defra-funded PROBITY project, according to a press release.
Targeting Acrylamide at the Source
The wheat was developed using CRISPR genome editing to reduce levels of free asparagine, a naturally occurring amino acid in wheat grain. During baking, frying, roasting and toasting, asparagine can convert into acrylamide, a toxic compound classified as a Group 2A carcinogen, meaning it is probably cancer-causing in humans.
Researchers targeted the asparagine synthetase-2, or TaASN2, gene, which plays a key role in asparagine production in wheat grain. The resulting genetic changes reduced free asparagine levels by 59% over two years of field trials, without affecting grain yield.
Professor Nigel Halford, technical lead for the project, said the marketing notice is significant for both the wheat and the U.K.’s precision breeding system.
“Receiving this marketing notice is an important milestone, not only for this wheat but for the UK’s new precision breeding framework. It shows how the Precision Breeding Act can enable innovation that delivers tangible public benefits. In this case, we can address a significant food safety challenge in a way that would have been difficult to achieve through conventional breeding alone, while maintaining the performance that farmers need and helping the food industry prepare for a changing regulatory landscape.”
A Changing Regulatory Landscape
The development comes as regulators increase scrutiny of acrylamide in food. Current EU legislation sets benchmark levels for acrylamide in food products, while new maximum limits are expected from the European Commission this year.
Those changes could affect the wheat supply chain across the EU and its trading partners, including the U.K. By reducing acrylamide formation at the source, the low-asparagine wheat could help reduce consumer exposure without changing food quality or how people prepare everyday wheat-based foods.
Part of a Farmer-Led Precision Breeding Project
The wheat is being studied through PROBITY, a three-year, £2.2-million farmer-led project funded by Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme. PROBITY — A Platform to Rate Organisms Bred for Improved Traits and Yield — aims to bring three precision-bred cereal varieties through regulatory processes and onto commercial farms for review by farmers, scientists and food manufacturers.
The low-asparagine wheat is the second precision-bred cereal in the project to receive a U.K. marketing notice. The first was a high-lipid barley variety, also developed at Rothamsted by Prof. Peter Eastmond.
Tom Allen-Stevens, managing director of the British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN), which leads PROBITY, said the decision shows progress for agricultural innovation.
“The second precision-bred cereal to receive a UK marketing notice is another step forward for innovation in agriculture. It shows that the regulatory system is working as intended – enabling traits with the potential to deliver genuine benefits to farmers, consumers and the food industry to move from research labs into farmers’ fields.
It’s only when these traits are assessed on farms and then scrutinised by our cross industry partners that we can fully understand their value, which is exactly what we need if precision breeding is to fulfil its potential.”
