Genetically modified organisms

Detection of genetically modified organisms (GMO)

Health risks and bad influences on the environment and biodiversity  by the cultivation and consumption of genetically modified organisms are still controversially discussed topics in public.
There are strict regulations in the EU concerning the handling of GMO and GM products, also defining treshold values for GMO product declarations.

EC 1829/2003 Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on genetically modified food and feed

EC 1830/2003 Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the traceability and labelling of genetically modified organisms and the traceability of food and feed products produced from genetically modified organisms.

Maize and soya food additives can be found in a variety of our daily need foods, e.g. Cornflakes, pastries, desserts, chocolate, instant sauces, dietary products, up to alcoholic drinks. It can be assumed, that they are part of 30.000-40.000 food products either in form of processed ingredients, or as feeding stuff and nutrients. Thereby the majority of the 40 Million tons of raw soya materials, imported yearly into the EU, originates from Brazil and Argentina. In these countries the cultivation of genetically modified soya has almost replaced conventional growings (USA:85%; Argentina:98%; Brazil:22%)¹
Maize in contrast is imported to th EU only in small amounts.
In Spain GMO maize has already  been cultured for many years and the degree of commercial plantation is increasing.

We offer a combined CaMV 35S promoter / nos terminator screening by realtime PCR for the detection of genetically modified plants. CaMV 35S promoter and nos terminator are gene sequences, which can be detected specifically in the majority of all GMOs. Both sequences have been introduced as regulatory elements in plants since the early beginnings of green biotechnology. This enables a differentiation to conventionally grown crops.

Due to the high sensitivity of realtime PCR, already marginal GMO quantities of 8 gene copies can be traced. In practice this means the detection of  GMO admixture in samples of at least 0,1% depending on the degree of processing.

⁽¹⁾ Quelle: www.transgen.de

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