**6. Improving the cooking and processing quality**

Although potatoes are increasingly consumed in the form of processed food products such as chips, french fries, dehydrated products, etc., they do not deliver the same nutritional value as fresh potatoes [125–127]. Potatoes are rich in carbohydrates (starch, sucrose, glucose, and fructose) and non-starch polysaccharides from cell wall components [128]. Potato starch is composed of 20–30% amylose and 70–80% amylopectin [129, 130]. Both starch and sugars play an important role during growth and development (biosynthesis of starch) and during postharvest storage of potatoes (breakdown of starch) [131]. The amount of starch and sugars present in potato tubers is an important criterion for selection of potato cultivars for commercial purpose. Likewise, the amount of reducing sugars (RS) present in potato tubers affects the processing quality of fried products. The final color in fried potato products results from the heating reactions that occur between RS and amino acids such as asparagine [132]. Similarly, cooking and baking qualities that are important for consumers are related to color, texture, and flavor. Therefore, potatoes are selected with reduced sugar content, good processing quality, and with the absence of cooking defects such as enzymatic browning and stem-end blackening [133]. Engineering for modified starch and sugar content as well as alteration in cooking quality has resulted in enhanced nutritional quality of transgenic potato tubers [134–138].
