Allergenicity assessment of genetically modified crops—what makes sense?

Abstract

GM crops have great potential to improve food quality, increase harvest yields and decrease dependency on certain chemical pesticides. Before entering the market their safety needs to be scrutinized. This includes a detailed analysis of allergenic risks, as the safety of allergic consumers has high priority. However, not all tests currently being applied to assessing allergenicity have a sound scientific basis. Recent events with transgenic crops reveal the fallacy of applying such tests to GM crops.

Rice Metabolomics

“…However, it should be noted that although the survey of the complete metabolome is required for detailed scrutiny of risks, the number of detectable metabolites by currently available metabolomic techniques is limited. Likewise, since the scientific procedures or guidelines for assessment of possible risks using metabolome data have not been established yet [21], ensuring substantial equivalence tends to require considerable work and sometimes might be impossible [38]. These drawbacks indicate that further improvement in metabolomics is essential for more comprehensive profiling and interpretation of rice metabolites.…”

“…However, before GM rice enters the market, its potential risks need to be assessed for ensuring safety [63,64]. Metabolomics combined with other allergenicity and toxicity tests [22,38] plays an important role in risk management [19]. However, it should be noted that although the survey of the complete metabolome is required for detailed scrutiny of risks, the number of detectable metabolites by currently available metabolomic techniques is limited.…”

Genetically modified foods and allergy

“…The use of animal models is controversial and some scientists believe that although they provide mechanistic information, their use to predict food allergies has not been validated. 26 Testing strategies are constantly evolving and each test when used alone has drawbacks. Nevertheless when used in combination, the current analytical tools offer a powerful screen for allergenic potential.…”

“…For this bioinformatic strategy to be useful, there probably has to be a minimum cut-off of 35% homology over an 80-amino-acid window. 26 Other approaches include examining whether the serum of allergic individuals reacts with GM foods; and the use of animal models to screen GM foods for allergenicity. The use of animal models is controversial and some scientists believe that although they provide mechanistic information, their use to predict food allergies has not been validated.…”

Sustainability spaces for complex agri-food systems

“…23 Popular concepts, such as sustainable intensification (SI) and climate smart agriculture (CSA), are 24 oriented around simultaneously achieving multiple targets, inclusive of increased food production, 25 improved food security, adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, the conservation of 26 ecosystems, and improved livelihoods (Pretty, 2008, Godfray et al, 2010. The no-compromise 27 motivations of CSA and SI are attractive in a context of constrained donor budgets and multiple 28 policy goals .…”