Making food systems more resilient to food safety risks by including artificial intelligence, big data, and internet of things into food safety early warning and emerging risk identification tools.

To enhance the resilience of food systems to food safety risks, it is vitally important for national authorities and international organizations to be able to identify emerging food safety risks and to provide early warning signals in a timely manner. This review provides an overview of existing and experimental applications of artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and internet of things as part of early warning and emerging risk identification tools and methods in the food safety domain. There is an ongoing rapid development of systems fed by numerous, real-time, and diverse data with the aim of early warning and identification of emerging food safety risks.

Comparative safety assessment of genetically modified crops: focus on equivalence with reference varieties could contribute to more efficient and effective field trials.

The initial compositional analysis of plants plays an important role within the internationally harmonized comparative safety assessment approach for genetically modified plants. Current EFSA guidance prescribes two types of comparison, namely difference tests with regard to a conventional comparator or control, and equivalence tests with regard to a collection of commercial reference varieties. The experience gained so far shows that most of the statistically significant differences between the test and control can be discounted based on the fact that they are still within equivalence limits of reference varieties with a presumed history of safe use.

Occurrence and Nature of Off-Target Modifications by CRISPR-Cas Genome Editing in Plants.

CRISPR-Cas-based genome editing allows for precise and targeted genetic modification of plants. Nevertheless, unintended off-target edits can arise that might confer risks when present in gene-edited food crops. Through an extensive literature review we gathered information on CRISPR-Cas off-target edits in plants.

Biotechnology and Biosafety Policy at OECD: Future Trends.

The OECD Council Recommendation on Recombinant DNA Safety Considerations is a legal instrument which has been in force since 1986. It outlines the safety assessment practices that countries should have in place for agricultural and environmental biotechnology. This article suggests possible updates to make it suitable for the modern era.

Application of the Safe-By-Design Concept in Crop Breeding Innovation.

The present paper proposes the application of the safe-by-design concept to crop breeding innovation with the aim to accommodate safety considerations for new agricultural food and feed products. Safe-by-design can be implemented in all stages of the innovation cycle of agricultural products, from the early stages of research and development towards the post-market stage. Our proposed application of safe-by-design can be part of "responsible research and innovation" concepts, because they share features such as risk prevention strategies and a participatory approach.

Food safety assessment of crops engineered with RNA interference and other methods to modulate expression of endogenous and plant pest genes.

Genetically modified crops have been grown commercially for more than two decades. Some of these crops have been modified with genetic constructs that induce gene silencing through RNA interference (RNAi). The targets for this silencing action are genes, either specific endogenous ones of the host plant or those of particular pests or pathogens infesting these plants.

Regulation and safety considerations of somatic cell nuclear transfer-cloned farm animals and their offspring used for food production.

This document discusses recent developments in cloning of husbandry animals through somatic cell nuclear transfer, particularly with a view on improvements in their efficacy. Commercial developments in North and South America, Australia-New Zealand, and China are noted. The regulations and safety aspects surrounding the use of clones and their offspring for the purpose of food production are discussed.

Gene-Edited Crops: Towards a Harmonized Safety Assessment.

Gene editing and other innovative plant breeding techniques are transforming the field of crop biotechnology. Divergent national regulatory regimes worldwide apply to crops bred with these techniques. A plea is made for international harmonization of the premarket assessment of their safety.

A holistic approach to food safety risks: Food fraud as an example.

Production of sufficient, safe and nutritious food is a global challenge faced by the actors operating in the food production chain. The performance of food-producing systems from farm to fork is directly and indirectly influenced by major changes in, for example, climate, demographics, and the economy. Many of these major trends will also drive the development of food safety risks and thus will have an effect on human health, local societies and economies.

One-year oral toxicity study on a genetically modified maize MON810 variety in Wistar Han RCC rats (EU 7th Framework Programme project GRACE).

The GRACE (GMO Risk Assessment and Communication of Evidence; www.grace-fp7.eu ) project was funded by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Programme.

Developing Global Leaders for Research, Regulation, and Stewardship of Crop Protection Chemistry in the 21st Century.

To provide sufficient food and fiber to the increasing global population, the technologies associated with crop protection are growing ever more sophisticated but, at the same time, societal expectations for the safe use of crop protection chemistry tools are also increasing. The goal of this perspective is to highlight the key issues that face future leaders in crop protection, based on presentations made during a symposium titled "Developing Global Leaders for Research, Regulation and Stewardship of Crop Protection Chemistry in the 21st Century", held in conjunction with the IUPAC 13th International Congress of Pesticide Chemistry in San Francisco, CA, USA, during August 2014. The presentations highlighted the fact that leaders in crop protection must have a good basic scientific training and understand new and evolving technologies, are aware of the needs of both developed and developing countries, and have good communication skills.

Ninety-day oral toxicity studies on two genetically modified maize MON810 varieties in Wistar Han RCC rats (EU 7th Framework Programme project GRACE).

The GMO Risk Assessment and Communication of Evidence (GRACE; www.grace-fp7.eu ) project is funded by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Programme.

The impact of altered herbicide residues in transgenic herbicide-resistant crops on standard setting for herbicide residues.

The global area covered with transgenic (genetically modified) crops has rapidly increased since their introduction in the mid-1990s. Most of these crops have been rendered herbicide resistant, for which it can be envisaged that the modification has an impact on the profile and level of herbicide residues within these crops. In this article, the four main categories of herbicide resistance, including resistance to acetolactate-synthase inhibitors, bromoxynil, glufosinate and glyphosate, are reviewed.

Indicators of emerging hazards and risks to food safety.

There is a widely felt need to develop methods for the early identification of emerging hazards to food safety with the aim of preventing these hazards from becoming real risks and causing incidents. This paper reviews various activities and previous reports that describe methods to select indicators that can be used for the purpose of early identification of hazards. These indicators have been divided over three different environments, including (i) the environment surrounding food production, (ii) the food production chain from farm to fork, and (iii) consumers.

GMDD: a database of GMO detection methods.

Background: Since more than one hundred events of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been developed and approved for commercialization in global area, the GMO analysis methods are essential for the enforcement of GMO labelling regulations. Protein and nucleic acid-based detection techniques have been developed and utilized for GMOs identification and quantification. However, the information for harmonization and standardization of GMO analysis methods at global level is needed.

Comparison of herbicide regimes and the associated potential environmental effects of glyphosate-resistant crops versus what they replace in Europe.

While cultivation of transgenic crops takes place in seven of the EU member states, this constitutes a relatively limited part of the total acreage planted to these crops worldwide. The only glyphosate-resistant (GR) crop grown commercially until recently has been soybean in Romania. In addition, large-scale experimental European data exist for GR sugar and fodder beets, and, to a lesser extent, GR oilseed rape.

Altered pesticide use on transgenic crops and the associated general impact from an environmental perspective.

The large-scale commercial cultivation of transgenic crops has undergone a steady increase since their introduction 10 years ago. Most of these crops bear introduced traits that are of agronomic importance, such as herbicide or insect resistance. These traits are likely to impact upon the use of pesticides on these crops, as well as the pesticide market as a whole.

Presence of potential allergy-related linear epitopes in novel proteins from conventional crops and the implication for the safety assessment of these crops with respect to the current testing of genetically modified crops.

Mitochondria of cytoplasmic male sterile crop plants contain novel, chimeric open reading frames. In addition, a number of crops carry endogenous double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA). In this study, the novel proteins encoded by these genetic components were screened for the presence of potential binding sites (epitopes) of allergy-associated IgE antibodies, as was previously done with transgenic proteins from genetically modified crops.

Health considerations regarding horizontal transfer of microbial transgenes present in genetically modified crops.

The potential effects of horizontal gene transfer on human health are an important item in the safety assessment of genetically modified organisms. Horizontal gene transfer from genetically modified crops to gut microflora most likely occurs with transgenes of microbial origin. The characteristics of microbial transgenes other than antibiotic-resistance genes in market-approved genetically modified crops are reviewed.

Allermatch, a webtool for the prediction of potential allergenicity according to current FAO/WHO Codex alimentarius guidelines.

Background: Novel proteins entering the food chain, for example by genetic modification of plants, have to be tested for allergenicity. Allermatch http://allermatch.org is a webtool for the efficient and standardized prediction of potential allergenicity of proteins and peptides according to the current recommendations of the FAO/WHO Expert Consultation, as outlined in the Codex alimentarius.

Substantial equivalence--an appropriate paradigm for the safety assessment of genetically modified foods?

Safety assessment of genetically modified food crops is based on the concept of substantial equivalence, developed by OECD and further elaborated by FAO/WHO. The concept embraces a comparative approach to identify possible differences between the genetically modified food and its traditional comparator, which is considered to be safe. The concept is not a safety assessment in itself, it identifies hazards but does not assess them.

Screening of transgenic proteins expressed in transgenic food crops for the presence of short amino acid sequences identical to potential, IgE - binding linear epitopes of allergens.

Background: Transgenic proteins expressed by genetically modified food crops are evaluated for their potential allergenic properties prior to marketing, among others by identification of short identical amino acid sequences that occur both in the transgenic protein and allergenic proteins. A strategy is proposed, in which the positive outcomes of the sequence comparison with a minimal length of six amino acids are further screened for the presence of potential linear IgE-epitopes. This double track approach involves the use of literature data on IgE-epitopes and an antigenicity prediction algorithm.