Tearless onions a step closer

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NO CRY: Crop and Food research scientist Dr Colin Eady with one of the tearless onions he has developed.

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New Zealand scientists have completed the testing of "tearless" onions.

Crop and Food research scientist Colin Eady said the onions were still in the developmental stage, but if the research progressed well they could become the household and industry norm within the next decade.

With collaborators in Japan, Dr Eady has been conducting lab tests to dry up the agent in onions that makes cooks teary-eyed.

Researchers have used gene-silencing technology to switch off the enzyme that is responsible for the "crying" compound when an onion is crushed.

Though the result may not have moved publishers of international trade journal Onion World to tears, they were sufficiently impressed to feature Dr Eady's work in their latest issue.

The magazine quoted Michael J Havey, horticulture professor at the University of Wisconsin - and an accomplished onion scientist - as predicting that tearless onions would become a mainstay in kitchens around the world.

Tony Howie, who farms 4000 tonnes of onions at Timaru, said the development had to be good for growers and consumers.