Caffeine in everything!

Posted on May 3rd, 2007 in Food, pesticide by Anastasia

We’ve all tried those chocolate covered espresso beans, and were left spitting out bitter bits of bean. A new product provides that boost without the yuck factor. ‘Sumseeds’ will be coming soon to a truck stop near you. They are in-shell sunflower seeds infused with caffeine, taurine, lysine, and ginseng. They will be the official seed of the Sioux Falls Canaries, reports Discovery News. The company has patents pending for their new way of roasting sunflower seeds and for their special infusion method that lets chemicals penetrate the shell.

Why go through all that work to infuse the caffeine into the sunflower seeds, when they could just transform the sunflower plants with the caffeine synthesis pathway genes? I definitely prefer a transgene to infusion of synthesized compounds. Monsanto has produced tobacco plants that produce caffeine. Their info sheet, posted in early April, states that the caffeine acts as an insecticide. It sounds like a great idea for a BT alternative, especially for crops that aren’t directly eaten (like sugar beets).