United Kingdom
July 3, 2026
This 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. The decision allows the crop to progress to the next part of the process, which is evaluation by the Foods Standards Agency for food and feed use. The wheat is being studied within the Defra-funded PROBITY project, and approval would enable it to be grown on a small number of selected farms and processed in real-world food manufacturing plants.
The wheat was developed using CRISPR genome editing to reduce concentrations of free asparagine, a naturally occurring amino acid that converts into acrylamide during baking, frying, roasting and toasting. Acrylamide is toxic and a Group 2a carcinogen (probably cancer-causing in humans).
Researchers targeted the asparagine synthetase-2 (TaASN2) gene, which plays a key role in asparagine production in wheat grain. The precise genetic changes that were introduced reduced free asparagine levels by 59% over two years of field trials, without affecting grain yield.
The development comes at a time of growing regulatory focus on acrylamide. Current EU legislation sets benchmark levels for acrylamide in food products, while new maximum limits are expected from the European Commission this year. These changes are likely to affect the whole wheat supply chain across the EU and its trading partners, including the UK.
PROBITY – A Platform to Rate Organisms Bred for Improved Traits and Yield – is a three-year, £2.2m farmer-led project, funded by Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme Small R&D Partnership Round 3). The multi-partner project aims to bring three precision-bred cereal varieties through the regulatory processes and onto commercial farms for scrutiny by farmers, scientists and food manufacturers. The wheat is the second of these to receive a UK marketing notice – the first being high lipid barley also developed at Rothamsted, by Prof Peter Eastmond.
Professor Nigel Halford, who is technical lead for the project, said:
"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."
By reducing the formation of acrylamide at source, the technology has the potential to reduce the exposure of consumers to this toxic contaminant without comprising food quality or how consumers prepare and enjoy everyday foods.
Tom Allen-Stevens, managing director of the British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN) which leads the PROBITY project said:
"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."
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