Food safety assessments allergenicity

Proteins being at the center of cellular metabolism and development, it is to be expected that they focus a lot of interest in food safety assessment. They actually could negatively impact on human or animal health if they comprise, for example, polypeptidic allergens, proteinaceous toxins, and antagonistic proteins such as special inhibitors. For all these compounds, genome analysis would not bring pertinent information contrary to an in-depth proteome investigation (73). 

Codex Alimentarius Commission. 2003. Alinorm 03/34 Appendix III. Guideline for the conduct of food safety assessment of foods derived from recombinant DNA plants. Annex IV. Annex on the assessment for possible allergenicity, Rome, Italy. 

The approach to safety assessment recommended by IFBC/ILSI [70] was somewhat guarded about the potential utility of animal models and noted at that time that there were available no suitable methods. However, a somewhat different view was expressed in 2001 in the recommendations deriving from the FAO/WHO joint consultation [71]. In this case one of the conclusions reached was that animal models might contribute valuable information on the likely allergenicity of foods derived from GM crops. Although progress in the development of animal models appropriate for safety assessment predated the publication of the FAO/WHO recommendations, further momentum was provided for research in this area [4, 9, 87-98],... 

Transcriptomic, proteomic, and/or metabolomic approaches have already been shown to be extremely useful to assess food safety and quality at every stage of production to ensure food safety for human consumption. They are also valuable tools to distinguish between similar food products and to detect food frauds (adulteration, origin, authenticity, etc.), food-borne pathogens, toxic species, food allergens, etc. 

Long before Bt crops were developed, Bt toxins in sprayable formulations were used to control insects. This fact allowed the EPA and FDA to consider twenty years of human exposure in assessing human safety before agreeing to register Bt corn for commercial use. In addition to these data, numerous toxicity and allergenicity tests were conducted on many different kinds of naturally occurring Bt toxins. Based on these tests and the history of Bt use on food crops, it was concluded that Bt corn is as safe as its conventional counterpart and therefore would not adversely effect human and animal health or the environment (Opinion on..., EFSA 2004). 

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