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Utilising the potential of food biotechnology - experts call for legislation to be adapted
Food biotechnology could contribute significantly more than it has so far to sustainably securing the world's food supply. The experts from DECHEMA's Food Biotechnology Division point this out in a recent position paper. They call for legislation to be adapted so that modern processes are no longer blocked.
10/01/2023
A growing world population, geopolitical upheaval and the consequences of global warming have put global food security back at the top of the agenda. Food production is suffering from climate change, while at the same time being responsible for more than a third of all greenhouse gas emissions. To change this, disruptive innovations are needed.
The latest paper from DECHEMA's Food Biotechnology Division shows what new approaches modern production methods offer. Under the title „Biotechnology as an opportunity for sustainable food production“, experts from science and industry describe how biotechnological processes with enzymes and microorganisms can open up new protein sources and improve the processing of food.
The spectrum ranges from more familiar products made from legumes to the replacement of animal proteins. Cultivated meat from cell culture has attracted a lot of attention recently, but milk protein can also be produced specifically in the bioreactor with the help of precision fermentation. In this process, nutrients are utilised up to twenty times more efficiently than is possible in animal husbandry.
Customised enzymes not only make gluten- or lactose-free products accessible to allergy sufferers, they can also help to give foods certain desired properties. Enzymes are also a key to combating obesity with the help of new, low-calorie but easily digestible sugar alternatives.
However, the enormous potential for innovation is currently hampered by legislation that not only hinders its use, but in some cases makes it impossible. This applies in particular to new genomic techniques that change the characteristics of organisms in such a way that they cannot be distinguished from natural mutations or the results of classical breeding. The authors therefore call for an appropriate, ideology-free and differentiated regulation: organisms in which no foreign DNA has been incorporated and which could equally have been created by natural mutations should be exempted from the existing EU genetic engineering legislation. According to the experts, this is the only way to open up new food sources through research and development that fulfil the wishes of consumers as well as the pursuit of sustainability and the goals of the EU's Farm to Fork strategy.
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