Detection of Genetically Modified Plants in Seeds, Food and Feed
Different techniques and analytical strategies are applied for detecting and quantifying the presence of genetically modified (GM) plants in food and feed products or in seeds. DNA-based detection is performed by qualitative PCR or by quantitative real-ti
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Detection of Genetically Modified Plants in Seeds, Food and Feed Lutz Grohmann
7.1
Introduction
In the context of the development and approval of a growing number of genetically modified (GM) plants which are field-tested in the environment or cultivated as crop plants, the methodology for their detection and identification has become an important issue. Detection methods and techniques used by researchers and in development laboratories for the characterisation of transformants are generally different to those applied by official testing laboratories and public analysts. Enforcement laboratories apply specific methods and analytical strategies for the detection of GM plants used in the foods, feed or seeds sectors, having in mind that the commercialisation of transgenic crop plants is regulated in different ways depending on national legal frameworks. In the European Union (EU) for example a validated transformation event-specific detection method, including sampling, extraction, identification and quantification, has to be provided by the applicant if authorisation of a certain GM event as food and feed is intended (EU 2003a). In contrast, for example in the United States, GM plants become deregulated for use as food, feed or for cultivation when they have been reviewed by the competent regulatory agencies. Moreover, according to international agreements laid down in the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (UN 2000), the trade and transfer of living GM organisms (e.g. seeds and propagable grains) across national borders may require information for the specific detection and identification of that GM organism. Under certain circumstances the GM crop content needs not only to be detected and identified but also to be quantified in terms of certain thresholds for labelling the foods and feeds which contain or are produced from GM plants. Threshold levels also depend on national legislations and, for example in the EU, labelling is
L. Grohmann Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety, Department of Genetic Engineering, Mauerstrasse 39–42, 10117 Berlin, Germany e-mail: [email protected]
F. Kempken and C. Jung (eds.), Genetic Modification of Plants, Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry 64, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-02391-0_7, # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010
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not required if the proportion of GM material is not higher than 0.9% of the food ingredient, provided that the presence of this material is adventitious or technically unavoidable, whereas for example in Japan the labelling threshold is 5%. For GM plants not authorised according to EU regulations a zero tolerance is applied, making the sensitive detection of such GM materials an emerging challenge for the official testing laboratories. This review describes the current techniques used for detection of transgenic plant materials and the different analytical strategies applied by the official control laboratories responsible for enforcement from an European perspective. In addition, the limitations of current m
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