Two types of potato plant varieties are developed using different methods: one using traditional breeding techniques and another using genetic manipulation (GMO).
Since 2005 the first natural potato variety Eliane is being cultivated and marketed by the starch company AVEBE.
As genetic engineering is a controversial public opinion topic, commercialisation remains difficult.
A point of criticism of GMOs is the use of genetic engineering techniques to imprecisely perform horizontal gene transfer.
In the beginning of 2013 BASF stop all activities on Amflora in EU [4] due to 'uncertainty in the regulatory environment and threats of field destructions'.