The food and feed risk assessment strategy for genetically modified (GM) plants in Europe, as applied by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) GMO Panel compares GM plants and their derived food and feed with a conventional non-GM comparator, a plant with a history of safe use as food. This project was carried out to review the current scientific literature and risk assessment frameworks for food and feed safety of GM plants, in cases where the comparative approach as applied by EFSA may not be fully applicable. This may be the case for the range of GM traits coming onto the market which have received substantial modifications to the endogenous composition, metabolism and physiology of the plant (GM plants with ‘novel’ traits).
Definition of ‘Novel’ traits: Throughout the report, ‘novel’ traits are defined according to Appendix A. GM plants with ‘novel’ traits include plants which have undergone:
1. Alterations to concentration of storage compounds or nutritional content;
2. Introduction of ‘foreign’ storage compound(s);
3. Physiological/ morphological change to plant; and
4. Alterations in metabolite concentrations to enable the plant to tolerate stresses.
This is not an exhaustive list. It should be noted that ‘novel’ refers to the nature of the trait itself and not the methodology used to achieve the genetic modification.
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Definition of ‘Novel’ traits: Throughout the report, ‘novel’ traits are defined according to Appendix A. GM plants with ‘novel’ traits include plants which have undergone:
1. Alterations to concentration of storage compounds or nutritional content;
2. Introduction of ‘foreign’ storage compound(s);
3. Physiological/ morphological change to plant; and
4. Alterations in metabolite concentrations to enable the plant to tolerate stresses.
This is not an exhaustive list. It should be noted that ‘novel’ refers to the nature of the trait itself and not the methodology used to achieve the genetic modification.
Read the full article
