Genetically Modified Herbicide-Tolerant Crops and Sugar Beet—Environmental and Health Concerns - Sweeteners: Nutritional Aspects, Applications, and Production Technology - page 376

required labeling so that consumers may have the choice among GM, conventional, or organic food
(Miragliaetal.2004;Beckmannetal.2006).Thislegislationrequiresalabelingsystemaswellasa
systemoftraceability,ensuringthereliableseparationofGMandnon-GMorganismsattheproduction
levelandthroughoutthewholeprocessingchain(Miragliaetal.2004).ThetraceabilityofGMOsis
foundedontwoneeds.First,consumersinmanycountriesarereluctanttobuyGMfoodsandareskepti-
caloftheuseofGMcropsforanimalfeed.Consequently,theconceptofcoexistencehasbeendeveloped
toseparateGMandnon-GMsupplychainsandisonlypossibleifallpurchasersalongtheproduction
chainknowwhattheyarebuying.Second,althougheveryGMOthatisapprovedforcommercialization
musthavepassedasafetyassessment,itmaybenecessarytowithdrawacertainGMOfromthemarket,
forexample,ifnewscientiicevidenceraisesdoubtsaboutitssafety.Forthesepurposes,after3yearsof
debate,theOECDcountriescameupwithanidentitycodeforGMOsin2002.Initially,somemember
countries(e.g.,theU.S.A.,butalsoCanadaandAustralia)wereopposedtotheconcept.Theinaldeci-
sionrequirestheassignmentofa“uniqueidentiier”toeachGMOeventthatisauthorizedinoneormore
OECDcountries.Theuniqueidentiierisacodeconsistingofninelettersand/ornumbers.Theirsttwo
orthreecharactersindicatethecompanysubmittingtheapplication,whilethefollowingiveorsixchar-
actersspecifytherespectivetransformationevent.Thelastdigitservesasaveriier.Allthecropvarieties
derivedfromonetransformationeventwillsharethesameuniqueidentiier.
TheuniqueidentiierhasbeenintegratedintheCartagenaProtocolonBiosafetyandintheEuropean
UnionlegislationonthelabelingandtraceabilityofGMOs[Regulation(EC)No.1830/2003;EC2003b].
Detailingtheuniqueidentiier,theregulationdemandstheforwardingofthewrittendocumentationof
theidentityofaGMOateverystageoftheproductionprocess.ThisallowsaGMOtobetracedeven
if,forexample,duetointensiveprocessing,itcannolongerbedetected.Usingthisuniqueidentiier,
informationonallapprovedtransgenicGMOsisaccessiblethroughtheBiosafetyClearing-House,the
informationexchangeplatformoftheCartagenaProtocol.
The cultivation of GMOs has implications for the organization of agricultural production.
Conventionalproducts—thoseproducedwithoutgeneticmodiication—canunintentionallybecontami-
natedbyGMmaterialduringseedproduction,cultivation,harvesting,storage,transport,orprocessing.
However,accordingtoECguidelinesforthedevelopmentofnationalstrategiesandbestpracticesto
ensurethecoexistenceofGMcropswithconventionalandorganicfarming,farmersshouldbeableto
cultivatethetypesofagriculturalcropsthattheychoose,betheyGM,conventional,ororganic.Noneof
theseformsofagricultureshouldbeexcludedintheEU.Coexistencereferstotheabilityoffarmersto
makeapracticalchoicebetweenconventional,organic,andGMcropproduction,incompliancewiththe
legalobligationsforlabelingandpuritystandards(Janketal.2006).
In the last decade, a great number of EU-funded research projects such as GM and Non-GM
SupplyChains:TheirCoexistenceandTraceability(Co-Extra),SustainableIntroductionofGMOsinto
EuropeanAgriculture(SIGMEA),andDevelopingEficientandStableBiologicalContainmentSystems
forGeneticallyModiiedPlants(Transcontainer)aimatinvestigatingimprovedmethodsforensuring
coexistence and providing stakeholders the tools required for the implementation of coexistence and
traceability.
12.4 DeteCtION
Testing on GMOs in food and feed is routinely done using molecular techniques like DNA
microarraysorquantitativereal-timepolymerasechainreaction(qPCR).Thesetestscanbebased
onscreeninggeneticelements[suchasp35S, Agrobacterium tumefaciens nopalinesynthasetermi-
nator(tNOS),pat,orbar]orevent-speciicmarkersfortheoficialGMOs(suchasMon810,Bt11,or
GT73).Thearray-basedmethodcombinesmultiplexPCRandarraytechnologytoscreensamples
fordifferentpotentialGMOs,combiningdifferentapproaches(screeningelements,plant-speciic
markers,andevent-speciicmarkers).