Genetically Engineered Foods and Their Safety: A Review

In the last two decades, we have witnessed great surprises in the field of technology andengineering sciences, and genetic engineering is considered one of the greatest achievements.The recombination of genes from one organism to another or changing genes in an organismthat are already present, create a wide variety of foods, called “Genetically Modified foods (GMfoods)”, or “Genetically Engineered foods (GE foods)”, or “Bioengineered foods”. Geneticengineering techniques allow for the introduction of new traits as well as greater control overtraits when compared to previous methods, such as selective breeding and mutation breeding.Alike all novel technologies, the genetic engineering phenomenon has its pros and cons. Beinguseful in controlling the occurrence of certain diseases, growing faster and increasingproductivity, resistant in droughts, or where the soil is incompetent for agriculture, as well asthe ability of growing at places with unfavourable climatic conditions, natural resistancetowards pests and insects, which this trait reduces the necessity of exposing GM crops toharmful pesticides and insecticides, making these foods free from chemicals and environmentfriendly as well, being high in nutrients and containing more minerals and vitamins, tastingbetter, and increased shelf life are some of benefits of theses novel foods. In contrast, thesefoods also pose some risks. Controversies and public concern surrounding GM foods and cropscommonly focus on human and environmental safety, labelling and consumer choice,intellectual property rights, ethics, food security, poverty reduction and environmentalconservation. But, as conventional foods, the safety aspects of GM foods are the most importantconcern in the acceptance of these products by society. Thus, by reviewing some interestedarticles, we investigated some safety aspects of these novel foods.

کلیدواژه ها:

Genetic engineering ، Food safety ، Risk assessment ، GM foods ، Bt foods.