Genetics toxic food additives

Typically, this oil was rich in erucic acid, which is still available from high-erucic rapeseed oil (HEAR) or from crambe oil. Erucic acid is mildly toxic to humans in large doses but is used as a food additive in smaller doses. The variety low in erucic acid (<5% or <2%) and also in glu-cosinolates (LEAR, double zero) is now more important. The oil typically contains palmitic (4%), stearic (2%), oleic (56%), linoleic (26%), and linolenic acids (10%). Rapeseed lends itself to genetic manipulation and rapeseed oil containing a lower level of linolenic acid or higher levels of lauric, stearic, or oleic acid or new acids, such as 8-linolenic, ricinoleic, or vemolic acids, are being developed for commercial exploitation. ... 

J. P. Brown, R. J. Brown, and G. W. Roehm, The application of short-term microbial mutagenicity tests in the identification and development of non-toxic, non-absorbable food additives, in Progress in Genetic Toxicology (D. Scott, B. A. Bridges, and F. H. Sobels, eds.), pp. 185-190, Elsevier/North-Holland, New York (1977). 

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