An application for the EU approval of a second genetically modified starch potato, Amadea, has been made to Brussels by developer BASF, as harvesting begins of its first GM variety, Amflora.

Both potatoes are modified to produce pure amylopectin starch, rather than a mixture of amylopectin and amylase. In paper and adhesive industries, where potato starch is used, only amylopectin is needed and separating the two starch components is uneconomic.

Amadea’s agronomic properties and safety had been tested in field trials conducted over a number of years, BASF said.

“We hope Amadea will be available to European farmers in the very near future,” the firm’s chairman Jurgen Hambrecht said in Zepkow, Germany at a site where 14ha of Amflora potatoes were being harvested.

“Crops optimised through biotechnology should not just provide benefits to farmers in America and Asia. Our European farmers should also get access to innovative products so they can remain competitive on the global agricultural markets,” he added.

BASF hopes to launch Amadea in 2013/14, initially to complement, but later to substitute Amflora cultivation. No potatoes are grown for starch production in the UK.