On Dec. 1, 2011, Rainbow Papaya from Hawaii was approved for commercial shipments to Japan. This announcement marks the end of a long and tedious approval process which started in
1999, and the beginning of a new chapter for Hawaiian papaya growers.

The approval of biotech papaya is significant because it is the first horticultural product, and the first direct-to-consumer food product to gain regulatory approval in Japan. The degree of acceptance of this product at the consumer level will serve as a leading indicator for numerous biotech products that are in the developmental and regulatory pipeline.

The Rainbow papaya is an F-1 hybrid variety of papaya produced by crossing Hawaii’s yellow-flesh Kapoho Solo variety with the red-flesh SunUp. Researchers from Cornell University and the University of Hawaii had done research since 1984 to develop this Rainbow variety, which includes a gene that made the papaya plants resistant to the ringspot virus—similar to the way a vaccine makes people immune to disease.