How to view the impact of biotechnology on food safety

Modern biotechnology is mainly related to food safety is genetically modified food.

The so-called genetically modified food is the use of modern molecular biology technology to transfer the genes of certain organisms to other species, and modify their genetic material to make it change to the goals that people need in terms of traits, nutritional quality, and consumption quality. This kind of food produced by processing genetically modified organisms as raw materials is genetically modified food.

The safety evaluation of genetically modified foods mainly includes: Nutrition of genetically modified food exogenous gene products.

Evaluation (including: nutritional promotion or deficiency, anti-nutritional factors, etc.), toxicological evaluation (including immunotoxicity, neurotoxicity, carcinogenicity, reproductive toxicity, etc.), and the presence of allergens.

Adverse consequences caused by horizontal transfer of foreign genes, such as drug resistance of harmful microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract caused by marker gene transfer; Adverse consequences caused by unforeseen gene pleiotropy, such as the emergence of new food ingredients due to downstream gene transcription effects triggered by foreign gene insertion sites and insertion gene products, or the reduction or disappearance of existing ingredients. Of course, the evaluation indicators should also include some other elements.

Thankfully, current safety studies on commercially available GM food plants have shown that horizontal transfer of genetically modified food genes is extremely unlikely. The vast majority of people who consume genetically modified foods have been degraded and inactivated in the intestine, and a very small percentage of them are very unlikely to be transferred, unless they are considered in special cases. For insecticidal crystal protein, because it only acts on lepidopteran insects, it is on mammals.

Fish and non-lepidopteran insects have no effect. Some proteins are known to be anti-nutritional factors (such as exogenous lectins and protease inhibitors) that are toxic when eaten raw because food processing can reduce or eliminate these toxins, but are safe when properly processed. Genetically modified plant foods may be allergenic in the following cases:

A foreign gene encodes a known allergic protein. ２.

The gene source contains allergic proteins. As universities have proven that Brazil nut albumin-expressing soybeans are allergenic, this is the only known example of a genetically modified plant that has not been approved for commercialization. ３.

Amino acids of protein and known allergic proteins.

The sequences have distinct immunological homology. ４.The transferred protein is a member of a certain class of proteins, and some members of this protein family are allergic proteins.

For now, try to choose non-transgenic foods, because non-transgenic foods are safer.

After increasing investment in this area, the role of social supervision will become stronger. Supervise the safety of food production sites.

At present, most people are concerned about the potential allergenicity and potential toxicity of genetically recombinant foods. We know that the traits of any organism are expressed through proteins, and the production of proteins is determined precisely by the genetic material (DNA, although it may not be perfect).

We use technology to integrate exogenous DNA, which is not part of the target species, into the DNA sequence of the target species, resulting in new traits that humans want from the target organism: high yields, "perfect" nutrient ratios, insect resistance, and so on.

However, an important factor may be overlooked, the DNA sequence of each species is a whole, although only 1% of the DNA may be meaningful, but due to human intervention, it is very likely that this DNA sequence will produce new promoters or codons that are not expected by humans, resulting in proteins outside the target and even new traits outside the target. This poses a potential threat to whether it is good or bad until there is a complete argument! At the same time, because organisms themselves have the possibility of genetic mutations, it is very likely that the foreign DNA implanted by humans will also bring unexpected "surprises" to humans.

1. The influence of fungi on food safety.

There are many types of fungi, and their morphology and structure are complex. Some fungi are single-celled, such as yeasts and some molds. Some fungi are multicellular, such as edible fungi and most molds.

Although some fungi are widely used in the food industry, such as brewing, making sauces, making bread, etc., some fungi also bring harm to human health through food. For example, macrofungi (mushrooms) can cause food poisoning, and some fungi such as Candida and cryptococcus can cause human infections under certain conditions. But the most food safety threat among fungi is mold.

2. The influence of bacteria on food safety.

Bacteria are single-celled prokaryotes, with many species, widely distributed in nature and closely related to humans. Some foods such as vinegar, monosodium glutamate and a variety of amino acids are made using bacteria. However, many germs pose a danger to human health, and a large proportion of them are spread through food.

Bacterial food poisoning can be divided into two main categories: infectious and toxin. Diseases caused by digestive tract infections caused by eating foods containing a large number of pathogenic bacteria are called infectious food poisoning; Poisoning caused by eating food that produces toxins due to bacterial blooms is called toxin food poisoning.

3. The impact of viruses on food safety.

Viruses are very small microorganisms that cause many diseases in plants, animals and humans, these infections do not occur randomly, and each type of virus has its own typical host range. The virus can be transmitted by different routes, including respiration, blood, food, contact with animals, etc. The most relevant infections from food sources are those that are infected with intestinal bacteria and excreted in the feces or vomit.

The purpose of environmental safety assessment. The purpose of environmental risk assessment of transgenic plants is to identify and evaluate the possible adverse effects of transgenic plants and their products on the environment and human health during research, development, use, environmental release and transboundary movement through the application of appropriate principles, procedures and methods, and to seek to provide reliable quantification** of these risks, and to minimize the risks by adopting appropriate mechanisms and technical measures appropriate to the assessment results. General principles of environmental safety assessment.

The general principle of environmental risk assessment of transgenic plants is to promote the development of transgenic plants and biotechnology on the premise of ensuring human health and environmental safety. In the specific assessment practice, the following six principles are generally followed: the scientific principle, the familiarity principle, the precautionary principle, the case assessment principle, the gradual deepening principle, and the substantive equivalence principle.

The above six principles can ensure the scientificity of risk assessment and the accuracy of assessment results to the greatest extent.

In accordance with international practice and China's national standards, the whole food safety evaluation needs to provide rat feeding test data for 90 days, and if necessary, rat chronic toxicity test and reproductive toxicity test and other animal feeding experiment data.