Genome-Edited Plants: Opportunities and Challenges for an Anticipatory Detection and Identification Framework
1
Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, Spargelfeldstraße 191, 1220 Vienna, Austria
2
Environment Agency Austria, Spittelauer Lände 5, 1090 Vienna, Austria
3
Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, Konstantinstraße 110, 53179 Bonn, Germany
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Academic Editor: Susana Casal
Foods 2021, 10(2), 430; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10020430
Received: 1 December 2020
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Revised: 8 February 2021
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Accepted: 9 February 2021
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Published: 16 February 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetically Modified Food)
It is difficult to trace and identify genome-edited food and feed products if relevant information is not made available to competent authorities. This results in major challenges, as genetically modified organism (GMO) regulatory frameworks for food and feed that apply to countries such as the member states of the European Union (EU) require enforcement based on detection. An international anticipatory detection and identification framework for voluntary collaboration and collation of disclosed information on genome-edited plants could be a valuable tool to address these challenges caused by data gaps. Scrutinizing different information sources and establishing a level of information that is sufficient to unambiguously conclude on the application of genome editing in the plant breeding process can support the identification of genome-edited products by complementing the results of analytical detection. International coordination to set up an appropriate state-of-the-art database is recommended to overcome the difficulty caused by the non-harmonized bio-safety regulation requirements of genome-edited food and feed products in various countries. This approach helps to avoid trade disruptions and to facilitate GMO/non-GMO labeling schemes. Implementation of the legal requirements for genome-edited food and feed products in the EU and elsewhere would substantially benefit from such an anticipatory framework.
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Keywords:
GMO; genome editing; regulation; detection; identification; labeling
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MDPI and ACS Style
Ribarits, A.; Eckerstorfer, M.; Simon, S.; Stepanek, W. Genome-Edited Plants: Opportunities and Challenges for an Anticipatory Detection and Identification Framework. Foods 2021, 10, 430. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10020430
AMA Style
Ribarits A, Eckerstorfer M, Simon S, Stepanek W. Genome-Edited Plants: Opportunities and Challenges for an Anticipatory Detection and Identification Framework. Foods. 2021; 10(2):430. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10020430
Chicago/Turabian StyleRibarits, Alexandra, Michael Eckerstorfer, Samson Simon, and Walter Stepanek. 2021. "Genome-Edited Plants: Opportunities and Challenges for an Anticipatory Detection and Identification Framework" Foods 10, no. 2: 430. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10020430
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