When you think about risky foods and foodborne illnesses, you more than likely think of ground beef or poultry. Think again. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)reported that it found a number of food poisoning cases are caused by some unexpected foods, including leafy greens, tuna and eggs. In fact, all of the top ten foods are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

It's been cultivated for at least 7,000 years and spread from South America to grow on every continent except Antarctica. Now the humble potato has had its genome sequenced.

A Kansas State University researcher is studying the potential health benefits of a specially bred purple sweet potato because its dominant purple color results in an increased amount of anti-cancer components.

Currently, plant testing in the United States to determine potential ecological risks from chemical pesticides to nontarget plants requires two tests, both of which use immature plants.

Potatoes that have turned 'green' can potentially contain a naturally occurring toxin called Glycoalkaloids (GA) and pose a risk to public health according to a review paper published in the latest online issue of SCI's Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture (JSFA).

Researchers in Switzerland are reporting discovery of natural plant materials that may regulate starch digestion — slowing down the body's conversion of potatoes, rice, and other carbohydrate-rich foods into sugar. The findings could lead to new functional foods that fight diabetes, they say in a report scheduled for the June 26 issue of the ACS' bi-weekly Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.

Good news for chips lovers everywhere – new research in SCI’s Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture shows that pre-soaking potatoes in water before frying can reduce levels of acrylamide.

Molecular studies recently revealed new genetic information concerning the long-disputed origin of the "European potato." Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of La Laguna, and the International Potato Center used genetic markers to prove that the remnants of the earliest known landraces of the European potato are of Andean and Chilean origin. They report their findings in the May-June 2007 issue of Crop Science.