Herbicide tolerance
Soy is an important food ingredient because of its nutritional properties and its widespread use in processed foods. It is critical that whenever any changes are made to the plant, as in genetic modification, that the effects on the nutritional value are examined.
All GM foods offered for sale in Australia must first be evaluated to see whether there are any new toxins, allergens and whether the nutritional quality had changed at all as a result of adding a new gene.
For example, one gene has been added to GM herbicide tolerant soy. Researchers compared the nutritional composition of conventional soy and GM soy tolerant to the herbicide glyphosate. They found no difference.
Feeding studies in catfish, chickens, rats and dairy cattle have shown that their body weight and composition did not change when fed herbicide tolerant soy.
In addition, when dairy cattle are fed herbicide tolerant soy, the level of milk production and the composition of the milk did not change.
After a full safety assessment, FSANZ approved the soy from these herbicide tolerant plants for use in foods for human consumption.
Nothing to sneeze at
In the mid 1990s a form of GM soy was developed that incorporated a protein from the Brazil nut to enhance the nutritional quality of the soy protein. This was subjected to safety testing and was found to cause reactions in people who were allergic to the Brazil nut. The research did not proceed and the product did not go to market.