Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
that the choice of the vitamins and minerals
to be analysed should indeed be those that
are nutritionally signii cant based on the
level at which they occur and the intake of
the crop by consumers. Moreover, the choice
for other parameters should also be guided
by the characteristics of the product. For
oilseeds, for example, analysis of the fatty
acid proi le of the oil in the plant should be
carried out, while the amino acid com-
position is a key parameter to be analysed in
products that are important sources of
protein in human and animal nutrition
(EFSA, 2011; Chapter 3).
With regard to the choice of compositional
parameters to be analysed, a useful resource
is the consensus documents on the key
components of new crop varieties prepared
by the OECD Task Force on the Safety of
Novel Foods and Feeds, to which the EFSA
guidance also specii cally refers (EFSA,
2011). h ese documents have been prepared
and adopted (by consensus procedure) by
the members of this task force, which
consists of representatives from OECD
member countries, as well as observer
nations and organizations. h ese consensus
documents describe the role of the particular
crop in nutrition, typical procedures for
processing the crop to either food or feed,
and which key compositional parameters are
to be analysed in new crop varieties (OECD,
2013). h ese parameters can dif er from
crop to crop, so no generalized recommend-
ations are possible and the parameters
therefore have to be decided on a case-by-
case basis. h e range of recommended
parameters usually include those that fall
under the categories of gross compositional
parameters (e.g. protein, fat, ash), amino
and fatty acid composition, micronutrients
(particular minerals and vitamins), anti-
nutrients (e.g. phytic acid in some crop
seeds, including cereals), natural toxins (e.g.
glycoalkaloids in potato tubers) and
secondary metabolites (e.g. phenolic com-
pounds in maize). Moreover, besides the
parameters to be measured in the raw
agricultural commodities, the OECD con-
sensus documents also provide such
parameters for processed crop fractions
typically used for food or feed purposes. A
range of dif erent crops are covered by these
consensus documents, including, for
example, soybean, canola (low-erucic acid
rapeseed), maize, cotton, potato, sugarbeet,
rice, wheat, barley, forage legumes, sun-
l ower, tomato, grain sorghum, sweet
potato, sugarcane and papaya (OECD, 2013).
h ere is also an ongoing process of updating
these documents, and updated versions of
the canola and soybean documents, for
example, were published in 2011 and 2012,
respectively (OECD, 2011, 2012).
An example of the parameters recom-
mended by the OECD consensus document
for the analysis of soybean for food and feed
purposes is provided in Table 4.1.
Table 4.1.
Key compositional parameters recommended for analysis of new soybean varieties by the
OECD Task Force on the Safety of Novel Foods and Feeds. (From OE
CD, 2012.)
Parameter
Crop part(s)
Food/feed
Category
Analyte
Proximates and fi bre
Moisture, crude protein, crude fat, fi bre
(crude, ADF, NDF),
a
ash, carbohydrates
Seed, meal (feed),
forage (feed)
Food, feed
Amino acids
Amino acids
Seed, meal (feed)
Food, feed
Fatty acids
Fatty acids
Seed, oil (food)
Food, feed
Minerals
Calcium, phosphorus
Seed, meal (feed)
Feed
Vitamins
Vitamin E (
-tocopherol), K
1
Seed, oil (food)
Food, feed
Anti-nutrients
Stachyose, raffi nose
Seed, meal (feed)
Food, feed
Phytic acid
Seed, meal (feed)
Food, feed
Trypsin inhibitors
Seed, meal (feed)
Feed
Lectins
Seed
Food, feed
Secondary compounds
Isofl avones
Seed
Food
Note:
a
ADF = acid detergent fi bre; NDF = neutral detergent fi bre.
