Is it a food or food ingredient?

Foods or food ingredients produced using gene technology can generally be divided into five classes for the purpose of safety assessment.

Each class possesses distinctive properties allowing a separate safety assessment approach. This assessment scheme provides a general guide only. In practice, the type and extent of the safety assessment will largely depend on the nature of the food being considered in an application.

Group A consists of chemically defined substances such as food additives, processing aids, and agricultural and veterinary chemicals.

Examples:

  • enzymes such as α-amylase (breaks down starches), chymosin (used in cheese); and
  • veterinary chemicals such as porcine somatotropin (pig growth hormone), bovine somatotropin (beef growth hormone).

Group B consists of less well defined substances such as oils, fats, starch and protein where the composition may or may not be slightly altered.

Examples:

  • vegetable oil from pesticide-resistant seed plants;
  • sugar from insect-resistant sugar cane;
  • starch from insect-resistant maize;
  • vegetable oils with a modified fat composition from modified seed plants; and
  • mycoprotein (fungal protein) from genetically modified yeast.

Group C consists of foods produced using GMOs (generally micro-organisms) where the GMO has been removed from the final product, such as beer and wine.

Examples:

  • beer produced using yeast modified to ferment at a colder temperature; and
  • wine or beer produced using yeast modified to result in an altered flavour profile.

Group D consists of transgenic plants or animals, ie plants or animals that contain new or altered genetic material.

Examples:

  • tomatoes or cotton plants containing the gene for Bt toxin;
  • soybeans containing a gene which confers herbicide resistance;
  • potatoes in which genes have been altered to result in higher protein content;
  • pigs with altered growth characteristics; and
  • sheep resistant to blowfly strike.

Group E consists of foods such as yoghurt where the genetically modified fermentation micro-organism remains in the food.

Examples:

  • yoghurt containing a fermentation organism with increased phage (bacterial virus) resistance; and
  • yoghurt containing a modified fermentation organism which leads to increased vitamin content.