Food Lipids: Chemistry, Nutrition, and Biotechnology

previously mentioned low-linolenic flax, high-oleic sunflower, and erucic-containing
industrial rapeseed. These identity-preserved production practices typically add costs.
Moreover, seed from crops with different types of oil cannot be stored together or
crushed together; this restriction adds more complexity to production. These especial
production practices need to be considered when the development of a new food oil
is being planned. In the case of canola, where the precedent of identity-preserved
production of high erucic oils already exists, it appears that the incremental costs
are likely less than 5¢/lb.
Regulatory and political issues should be anticipated as well. Since genetic
engineering is a new technology, products are receiving additional scrutiny by the
public and by regulatory agencies to ensure that environmental and food safety issues
are as fully reviewed as feasible. The nature of the issues varies considerably according
to the nature of the altered traits. For example, different issues are raised by
herbicide resistance and the potential introduction of a new food oil rich in myristic
acid. Some segments of society may be less willing to try foods containing ingredients
based on biotechnology. Religious issues for some novel oils may need addressing
(e.g., kosher and halal definitions). These market realities may affect what
genetic engineering projects make sense.
Although plant lipid biosynthesis research has blossomed dramatically in the
past 10 years, fueled by interest in transgenic plant applications, there is still much
to be learned. Even though plant oils exist in nature that are greater than 85% laurate,
there may not be enough known to justify the laying out of a scientific strategy to
convert soybean into a producer of an oil with 85% lauric acid. On the other hand,
if a technical route to some financially attractive target appears to be straightforward,
an organization should consider the competitive aspects carefully. Perhaps a competitor
elected to gamble at an earlier stage when the technical route was less clear
and that organization may have gained an insurmountable lead to a commanding
patent position.
Obviously, embarking on a long-term project with technical risk and complexity
requires not only an evaluation of the utility and marketplace need of the final
product, but also an extensive competitive analysis. The technology underlying the
genetic engineering of oil composition may provide a clear basis for the patentability
of the product of the research. Thus, since whoever is first may very well be in a
position to block similar approaches by others, a consideration of which groups are
after the same goal and where they are in the process is in order. In addition, for
vegetable oils, there may be more than one means to the same end, and these alternatives
should be anticipated as well as possible. For example, one could consider
the genetic engineering of soybean with a C. lanceolata gene to produce an oil rich
in capric acid. Alternatively, another group may choose more conventional means of
domesticating C. lanceolata into an economically feasible crop. Either or neither
approach may succeed; but if both succeed, the eventual marketplace value to each
for the financial and time investment may be less.
In the case of structured oils and fats, there are of course chemically and
enzymatically based synthetic methods that utilize glycerol and fatty acids sourced
from animal fats as well as vegetable oils. Cost of raw materials and synthetic
capacities are factors to consider when this approach is compared to the genetic
engineering of crop plants. In the latter case, volumes are limited only to the number
Copyright 2002 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.