Biotechnology and the Food Supply Proceedings of a Symposium (1988) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 47-74
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ll BIOTECHNOLOGY: FOOD SAFETY AND NEW ROLES FOR TRADITIONAL INSTITUTIONS
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other crops being grown in test tubes in Tisserat's laboratory. Tisserat's tissue culture work has attracted the attention of the citrus industry and has been studied by Coca-Cola officials from the company's Minute Maid subsidiary.
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Food production, of course, has always been empowered by genes, but we haven't been able to see them, precisely select them, or move them across traditional species barriers.
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FOOD QUALITY AND FOOD SAFETY Biotechnology in agricultural production and food processing may affect tine quality and safety of food in several direct and indirect ways: (1) by displacing or altering the genes that control the nutritional constituents of food crops and livestock; (2)
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, researchers have been working to unearth the genetic mechanisms governing the seed storage protein in soybeans and other crops, which are deficient in some amino acids essential to human nutrition. Some nutritionists are opposed to genetic engineering for nutritional improvement, fearing that such tampering with the genes of nutrition might cause a great fluctuation in nutrient levels in commercial cultivars and create a kind of nutritional havoc within the national food system.
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Similarly, in Europe, the nutrient levels of some potato varieties have been altered because of farm production and food processing demands. In the United Kingdom, for example, the nutrient levels of some potato varieties are considerably tower than those stated in the U.K.
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Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 1985~. BIOTECHNOLOGY AND THE FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRY Food processing companies have been among some of the earliest and, recently, most aggressive investors in biotechnology: · In March 1982, the Campbell Soup Company began a contractual relationship with DNA Plant Technology Corporation to conduct research to determine the genetic basis for improving the solids content of tomatoes (Morris, 1982~.
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s going on in the food processing While all this work is O ~ industry, who is watching out for inadvertent changes in the nutritional integrity of food crops or livestock?
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Alternatively, it might also be possible, through the introduction or addition of genes from other plant species, to inadvertently introduce new toxins into agricultural crops.
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Rhubarb, spinach, cottonseed, black pepper, beets, celery, figs, parsley, parsnips, fava beans, and mustard seed are but a few of the crops that harbor some identified naturally occurring toxins of one kind or another (Ames, 198 3~. Although little is known about naturally occurring toxins in plants, most of the identified compounds are believed to be harmless at low levels, but could be a problem if elevated to higher levels, especially in raw food crops.
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Potential breakthroughs, such as nitrogen-fixing cereal crops or crops genetically engineered with more durable forms of resistance to diseases and insects, promise to move us away from the pesticide era. Recently, companies such as Monsanto and Rohm & Haas have made some advances in such work: Monsanto with tobacco-mosaic virus restistance in tomatoes and tobacco, and Rohm & Haas in moving the insect toxin gene from the bacterium Bacillus thurin~iensis into a model tobacco plant (Schmeck, 1986~.
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in seed, pesticides, and fertilizers) such as Monsanto and Ciba-Geigy, as well as those with interests in processing, handling, and selling food products, such as General Foods and Campbell have all begun to make sizeable capital investments in genetics to achieve certain ends.
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18624~. The intent of this proposal was to review raw food crops with changes in naturally occurring toxicants or nutritional constituents as a result of breeding.
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One of the reasons why to this day the FDA plant breeding regulation does not have guidelines is the lack of data on nutrient levels and naturally occurring toxins. THE 1973 NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL REPORT ON GENETIC ALTERATIONS IN FOOD AND FEED CROPS In August 1973, the eight-member National Research Council Task Force on Genetic Alterations in Food and Feed Crops submitted a short report to the Board on Agriculture and the Food and Nutrition Board.
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4~. On the matter of biological assays for use in plant breeding, the Task Force noted, "Microassays and ultramicroassays must be developed for screening rapidly large numbers of very small samples so that reliable guides to the biological availability of specific nutrients will be provided" (p.
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now in plant breeding programs the nutritional goals have either been ignored or are secondary to yield and pest resistance. The relevant nutritional characteristics of new varieties should in the future be identified prior to their commercial introduction.
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BIOTECHNOLOGY CONSUMERS AND THE FOOD QUALITY MOVEMENT How will consumers react to the changes in agriculture and food processing that will soon arrive with biotechnology? It is clear that in the last 6 years or so, there has been growing consumer concern over food safety and increasing interest in food quality.
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In his appeal, Chavez asked consumers not to buy fresh California table grapes until growers agree to ban the five most dangerous pesticides used in grape production-captan, dinoseb, parathion, phosbrin, and methyl bromide (Chavez, 1986~. Also in May 1986, the Center for Science in the Public Interest began a national campaign called "Americans for Safe Food." Included was a five-point plan of action urging consumers to: · organize a grassroots movement of citizens who are concerned about the safety of the food supply; 65
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In May 1984, the American Heart Association offered its dietary plan to help Americans lower their blood fat levels, including recommendations for eating less red meat and more fruits and vegetables (Brody, 1984~. The national concern about diet, food safety, and food quality has not been lost on the new biotechnology companies.
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4~. In May 1986 at a meeting of stockholders, Richard Laster, president and CEO of DNA Plant Technology, said that he believes agricultural biotechnology creates an "opportunity to do to the aualitv .
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Rather than giving consumers more control over food production, biotechnology is thus more likely to give the food processing industry greater control over the field-to-table characteristics of food. A July 1986 prospectus for the Calgene Company, which was distributed on Wall Street and throughout the investment community, contains the following statements: The unit value of most crops that are grown for the food processing and related industries are 68
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HOW WILL BIOTECHNOLOGY BE APPLIED? With agricultural biotechnology, research scientists, biotechnology companies, and major food corporations will increasingly determine what is produced in the food system and how it is produced.
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Not the least important in this effort would be establishing a workable and reliable monitoring system and data base on nutritional constituents in our raw food resources as well as a good inventory of naturally occurring toxins. This would appear to be the minimum information base needed before all manner of interests go plunging headlong into a free-for-all genetic engineering of the food system.
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Underwriters: Shearson Lehman Brothers, Inc., and Kidder, Peabody & Co. DNA Plant Technology Corp., Cinnaminson, N.~.
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1986. Remarks of Richard Laster, President and Chief Executive Officer, at DNA Plant Technology Corporation 1986 Annual Stockholders' Meeting, May 7, 1986.
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Presented at a press briefing sponsored by the Industrial Biotechnology Association (IBA) , October 24, 1986, at the IBA Annual Meeting, Westin St.
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