Obtaining less allergenic foods that are healthier or with more flavor (Genetically modified ?)

Jones L. Science, medicine, and the future. Genetically modified foods. BMJ. 1999 Feb 27;318(7183):581-4. doi: 10.1136/bmj.318.7183.581.

"Despite the technical difficulty, substantial progress is now being made with genetically modifying the compositional and processing characteristics of food crops. For example, oilseed rape can now be modified to produce oils with wide ranging characteristics through selective modification of the length and degree of saturation of the fatty acids produced—fatty acids such as laurate, typical of tropical vegetable oils, can now be produced in temperate oilseed crops. Similarly, the balance of sugar and starch in potatoes, which affects the processing quality of potatoes for snack food production (too much sugar produces a dark, poor tasting product), can also now be modified on an experimental scale.

Modern genetic techniques are being used to identify and manipulate the genes for biologically active components of food crops, such as natural toxicants (for example, potato glycoalkaloids and kidney bean lectin), antinutrients (for example, trypsin inhibitors), and allergens (for example, certain nut proteins). Such developments are at early stages but in the longer term are almost certain to lead to the development of foods that lack these undesirable components.

On an industrial scale, deterioration of fruits and vegetables is a huge problem: for example, the tendency of plant tissue to turn brown at a cut or peeled surface often has to be controlled through the use of preservatives such as sulphite. Damaged cells release the enzyme polyphenol oxidase, which catalyses the conversion of monophenols (released from separate subcellular compartments) to quinones, which oxidise to form brown polyphenolic pigments. However, the gene for polyphenol oxidase has been switched off in experimental studies by genetic modification, blocking this discolouration spoilage. Genetic modification and other molecular and biochemical techniques are being used to completely unravel the biochemistry of fruit and vegetable ripening and deterioration, and many new methods of preserving these foods, without the use of chemical preservatives, are likely to be developed.

Another possibility generating much interest is the use of crops to provide renewable sources of valuable materials such as vaccines, drugs, bioplastics, and other industrial materials. In parallel, cattle and sheep are being genetically modified to produce pharmaceutical chemicals in their milk, so that drugs can be produced much more efficiently and cost effectively. Although full discussion of this is beyond the scope of this article, there is hope that food crops such as banana could be used to produce and deliver vaccines in tropical regions."

The future of food analysis is revealing of fraudulent, uldertation products in this fake world in the age of stupidity.