News Forum - Pink pineapple is illegal in Thailand, smugglers face jail time

[Thaiger]

A type of genetically-modified pink pineapple is being illegally sold in Thailand, according to a warning issued by Thailand’s Ministry of Agriculture yesterday. The ministry urges the public to keep a vigilant eye out for unusual fruit and report anyone involved in the illicit pink pineapple trade. Costa Rican company Fresh Del Monte has been cultivating ‘Pinkglow’ pineapples, which are allegedly less sour than regular pineapples, since 2005. The ‘Instagrammable’ pineapple became a hit in the US, and is now gaining traction in Thailand. However, Thailand has a strict GMO-free policy in place, and smuggling Pinkglows into the kingdom is […]

The story Pink pineapple is illegal in Thailand, smugglers face jail time as seen on Thaiger News.

Read the full story

[DiJoDavO]

Are you sure it's not ham? 

[Skip]

No GMO... another broad based ban without consideration that there might be some benefit to some GMO products... painting with the broad brush is a cop out by government for their lack of management skills

[Augratin]

Transgenic foods have been eaten for decades, grown and imported/exported all over the world.  Banned in Thailand. How ridiculous.

 

[Donald]

Well, for once I support the Thai authorities  for not allowing GMO food to enter the market. I wished they had the same opinion on the mRNA "vaccine".

[TWS60]

Don't know much of anything about the GMO topic beyond Neil deGrasse Tyson peeling the onion once in a brief chat, effectively de-mystifying some of the negative assumptions about it. 

That said, my first-blush impression was the ban on this 'farang' pineapple is probably more about trade protections for the Thai pineapple industry, rather than a genuine government concern about food purity and safety for the public.   And if we allow this issue to fade in our collective memory for at least one growing season, I'd wager a beer that we'll see copy-cat pink pineapples grown in Thailand in our local markets, without a hint of concern from Bangkok about GMO.

[Fanta]

2 hours ago, Augratin said:

Transgenic foods have

But what do these transgenic foods identify as? 

[ThaiEyes]

Genetically modified… Ha! Genetic mutations have been going on for 100 years in some form of cross breeding or natural mutation. Just because some are done purposefully at the DNA level (GMO), doesn’t mean they’re all bad. 
Another blanket law imposed by idiots. Technology is changing so quickly and the Thais don’t have a chance of keeping up unfortunately with their current old school attitudes

[TWS60]

39 minutes ago, ThaiEyes said:

Genetically modified… Ha! Genetic mutations have been going on for 100 years in some form of cross breeding or natural mutation. Just because some are done purposefully at the DNA level (GMO), doesn’t mean they’re all bad. 
Another blanket law imposed by idiots. Technology is changing so quickly and the Thais don’t have a chance of keeping up unfortunately with their current old school attitudes

Right, apparently, and aside from the additional RoundUp/pesticide angle.  That's the gist of what I remember NdGT saying, and he provided several common examples.  Like corn, which in its original, unmodified form, is largely unappealing, opposed to the yellow, juicy product that comes to mind when we think of corn on the cob, which is grown and sold right here in Thailand.    

[Vigo]

1 hour ago, Donald said:

Well, for once I support the Thai authorities  for not allowing GMO food to enter the market. I wished they had the same opinion on the mRNA "vaccine".

This has no connection with an mRNA based vaccine.

[Vigo]

1 hour ago, ThaiEyes said:

Genetically modified… Ha! Genetic mutations have been going on for 100 years in some form of cross breeding or natural mutation. Just because some are done purposefully at the DNA level (GMO), doesn’t mean they’re all bad. 
Another blanket law imposed by idiots. Technology is changing so quickly and the Thais don’t have a chance of keeping up unfortunately with their current old school attitudes

You misunderstand selective breeding, natural mutation and genetic manipulation. Yes, plants and animals have been selectively bred for hundreds of years as the preferred version of the plant or animal was continuously bred. That was a slow and relatively safe process and allowed for adaptation to occur at a relatively slow pace. With direct DNA change, there can be unintended consequences. The pink pineapple was bred for Costa Rican environment.  Soil biology, insects, fungus, mold etc. are specific to that environment.  The pineapple was not tested for use in a SE Asian environment. 

Bring on the pink pineapple but  test it first for environmental compatibility. This is why government  department of agriculture around the world have  large test farms.  No one advocating the presence of a foreign plant in Thailand has offered any evidence that it is appropriate and safe for Thailand's environment.

[TheDirtyDurian]

"What you in for?"

"Pineapple smuggling!"

Doesn't quite have the same ring to it ...

[TWS60]

2 hours ago, Vigo said:

You misunderstand selective breeding, natural mutation and genetic manipulation. Yes, plants and animals have been selectively bred for hundreds of years as the preferred version of the plant or animal was continuously bred. That was a slow and relatively safe process and allowed for adaptation to occur at a relatively slow pace. With direct DNA change, there can be unintended consequences. The pink pineapple was bred for Costa Rican environment.  Soil biology, insects, fungus, mold etc. are specific to that environment.  The pineapple was not tested for use in a SE Asian environment. 

Bring on the pink pineapple but  test it first for environmental compatibility. This is why government  department of agriculture around the world have  large test farms.  No one advocating the presence of a foreign plant in Thailand has offered any evidence that it is appropriate and safe for Thailand's environment.

Interesting, thanks, created a minor rabbit hole to go down.

See the US FDA has concluded its consultation (not approval) on Del Monte's pink pineapple.  Suppose the link to what you're saying is the FDA notice covers sale/consumption only, not grow/production in N. America, which I guess isn't very feasible anyway.  So I think that's the rub, relative to the technical considerations you mentioned, which make sense.  

Mused about why Del Monte would go through the trouble to engineer a pink one.  Supposed to be sweeter, less tart/sour.  They apparently already offer an extra sweet, still-yellow version, so I'm left to think pink is a differentiating marketing ploy, supporting an  apparently higher price.

https://www.fda.gov/food/cfsan-constituent-updates/fda-concludes-consultation-pink-flesh-pineapple

Edited June 10, 2022 by TWS60

[ThaiEyes]

8 hours ago, Vigo said:

You misunderstand selective breeding, natural mutation and genetic manipulation. Yes, plants and animals have been selectively bred for hundreds of years as the preferred version of the plant or animal was continuously bred. That was a slow and relatively safe process and allowed for adaptation to occur at a relatively slow pace. With direct DNA change, there can be unintended consequences. The pink pineapple was bred for Costa Rican environment.  Soil biology, insects, fungus, mold etc. are specific to that environment.  The pineapple was not tested for use in a SE Asian environment. 

Bring on the pink pineapple but  test it first for environmental compatibility. This is why government  department of agriculture around the world have  large test farms.  No one advocating the presence of a foreign plant in Thailand has offered any evidence that it is appropriate and safe for Thailand's environment.

Reading what you say makes me think about the recent legalization of growing marijuana. I bet many of those newer varieties of pot did not go through any testing for compatibility in the Thai biome either, though the administration doesn’t seem to care about that. A bit of hypocrisy there or maybe they see longer term money gains for themselves and their cronies