A Royal Society report, published today, warns that safety assessments should be improved before a greater variety of foods made from genetically modified plants are declared fit for human consumption.

It concludes that there is no reason to doubt the safety of foods made from GM ingredients that are currently available, nor to believe that genetic modification makes foods inherently less safe than their conventional counterparts. However, the report calls for the tightening of regulations for all novel foods, particularly with respect to allergy testing and the nutritional content of infant formula.

The report also recommends that the methods for comparing GM foods with their conventional counterparts, by applying the principle of 'substantial equivalence', should be made more explicit and objective during safety assessments, and harmonised between Member States of the European Union.

Dr Clare Mills, Head of Physical Biochemistry at the Institute of Food Research, was appointed to the working party because of her expertise in plant food allergens. Dr Mills's current research interests include investigating the way in which plant protein structure and food processing affect food protein allergenicity. Such research will pave the way for developing improved processing procedures to reduce allergen loads in foods.

Talking of the advances in analytical techniques, Dr Mills said, "Substantial equivalence has been the best method available, and it has worked well with the crops considered to date. Now we have the techniques to define the differences (if any) between GM and non-GM crops objectively, which will allow a transparent assessment of the new generation of crops now in development."

Other researchers at the Institute of Food Research are working on the development of methods for the detection of possible 'unintended effects' of genetic modification. The chances of this happening are no greater (indeed are less) than with conventional plant breeding, but the methods being developed will give early warning of any problems long before the products are approaching the commercial stage. The research is part of an EU-funded project involving eleven laboratories across Europe. The UK-based research is also supported by the Food Standards Agency.

• Substantial equivalence – if a GM food can be shown to be essentially equivalent to an existing food then it can be considered to be as safe as its conventional equivalent.

• Inhalant allergies – these include industrial exposure (such as food processes using powdered ingredients) as well as hayfever.

• The full statement ‘Genetically modified plants for food use and human health – an update’ is available on the Royal Society website (www.royalsoc.ac.uk) 

• Information on research into ‘unintended effects’ can be found at: www.entransfood.com/RTDprojects/GMOCARE/default.htm

• The mission of the Institute of Food Research is to carry out independent basic, and strategic research on food safety, quality, nutrition and health. It is a company limited by guarantee, with charitable status, grant aided by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
  

• The Institute is based on the Norwich Research Park
  
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• The Royal Society is an independent academy promoting the natural and applied sciences. Founded in 1660, the Society has three roles, as the UK academy of science, as a learned Society, and as a funding agency.

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