Safety of novel food and genetically altered crops: What would science-based regulation look like?

Abstract

On 13 October 2015, a seminar by Dr Andrew Bartholomaeus, the former General Manager of the risk assessment branch of the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), entitled “Safety of novel food and genetically altered crops - What would science-based regulation look like?” was held at headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Dr Bartholomaeus discussed general principles of food safety regulations emphasizing the fact that the “natural” plant genome is highly plastic and “natural” crops are genetically unstable, thus sound regulatory frameworks should take this fact into consideration.