TECHNOLOGY FORESIGHT SUMMIT - Unido

74 Technology Foresight Summit
to regulate contained use and releases of genetically modified organisms
(GMO). In 1997, the Regulation 258/97 went into force, a product specific regulation
covering Novel Foods including GMO and products thereof. Recently,
a second round of GMO legislation started in the EU.
The GMO opinions arise from risk assessments of specific dossiers,
guidance documents and individual questions posed to the Commission on
GM issues.
One of the key topics in today’s discussions about genetic engineering in
agriculture is the next generation of transgenic plants, which are suitable for
the EU market.
At an early stage in the development of GM plants, some strategies are
available which may be considered best practice to reduce potential identified
risks and to avoid some unidentified risks in the environment.
Based on recently developed enabling technologies and improving precision
biotechnology tools the approach will not generate problems but try to
generate solutions. Considering the principles of precision biotechnology
early in the development of a GM plant can help to deal better with risk and
uncertainty in evaluating the safety of the plants. The principles of precision
biotechnology will hopefully become standard for crop improvement and for
acceptance of improved crops.
Food Standards, Safety and Biotechnology: A Central-European
Perspective
Peter Raspor, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Secretary General, Federation of the European Microbiological Societies
(FEMS)
Food technology as a profession is responsible for the technical aspects of
development of food products, food processes, and distribution of these products
to consumers. Since the ultimate target of these efforts is the satisfaction
of the consumer, it is essential to consider not only the objective consumer
needs (e.g., nutrition, safety, affordability), but also subjective aspects of consumer
satisfaction (e.g., sensorial properties and consumer attitudes). It is in
the area of consumer needs and wants that we encounter some of the most
difficult problems in fostering rational development of food technology
Europe is facing in last years. Particularly important are outbreaks of food
pathogens and exaggerated concerns about GMOs. However there are still
some problems open. At the moment, substantial equivalence is the main
approach used to assess the safety of GM ingredients. It is based on the
assumption that a new GM crop is safe if it is essentially the same as the
unmodified equivalent. This is assessed by comparing the agronomic, biochemical,
chemical and nutritional parameters of the GM food relative to
existing conventionally produced foods. Macronutrients, micronutrients, known
toxins and other anti-nutrition factors are also measured. There is no standard
list, however, of what components must be analysed for each food. Based