Scientists in the US are well on the way to developing sugar beets
with improved seedling vigour, higher sugar content, and enhanced
disease resistance.
A test has been developed that can reveal the presence of meat from
32 different kinds of animal species. The DNA-based scheme is
currently being examined by European food regulatory bodies as a
possible means of ensuring that a food...
Canada is set to publish its first voluntary standards for
labelling food free of genetically modified ingredients. But a
number of food processors say that the rules are so badly flawed
that they will be of no use to the majority...
Traceability has become a key concern in the meat processing
industry since the BSE outbreak in the UK in the 1990s, and more
recently the discovery of the disease in the US last year. A number
of diagnostic products have been developed...
If one day in the near future Europe does decide to clear the way
for the planting of GM crops in the soil of the EU25, there is one
point on which the Commission and national governments must be in
full possession of the facts,...
A new study from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) suggests
that genetically engineered DNA is contaminating traditional seeds
of three major crops in North America. The organisation warns that
if left unchecked, seed contamination...
With BSE rocking the North American beef industry and Avian 'flu
devastating East Asia's poultry industry at the moment,
traceability has become a buzzword in food production. No surprise,
then, that Canadian food processor...
Animal biotechnology applications in food production are about to
take off, according to a recent report from market analysts
Research and Markets. The report analyses how transgenic
technologies are being used in a number of ways,...
Genomics continues to fascinate scientists across the globe taking
up nature's challenge to understand the genetic make-up of the
earth's organisms. An international team of scientists has
succeeded in sequencing a little...
Food products made with GM maize could soon be on the European
supermarket shelves despite the cynical consumer if policy-makers,
soon to take a decision on the sale of Syngenta's Bt11 GM maize ,
take a yes vote. A recent breakthrough...
New research to come out of the university of Utah in the US
suggests new ways of regulating the behaviours that allow us to
smell food, learn, and remember.
A letter attacking the UK government's handling of the genetically
modified (GM)debate has been sent to the UK prime minister Tony
Blair on behalf of 114 individual scientists, reports CORDIS.
An insidious fuzzy grey mould that often coats refrigerated
strawberries and many other plants during growing and storage could
be prevented by a gene identified at Purdue university in the US.
The quickening of genetic mutation rates in bacteria may not only
happen when the microorganisms find themselves in strange and
stressful circumstances. A new study shows that E. coli,
ratchets up its 'adaptive mutation'...
A mother's diet can alter her offspring's development to such an
extent that it changes the baby's characteristics for life, and
potentially that of future generations, say researchers who have
found that nutrition...
As the debate hots up over genetically modified foodstuffs, a
report published in the latest issue of Nature suggests
that, thanks to the tinkering of genes, decaffeinated coffee could
be grown on bushes.
Low-saturated fat foods, enhanced flavours, foods without allergens
- all this is possible without any tampering of DNA material. US
company Anawah has received several million dollars to support
their work that combines molecular...
The smallest rice chromosome has nearly twice as many predicted
genes as the draft DNA sequence had indicated, claims a rice genome
sequencing team in the US.
The pursuit of genome sequencing continues with the news this week
that scientists from seven nations have revealed the genome
sequence of the bread mould Neurospora crassa.
New methods for the detection of enterotoxins from Bacillus
cereus have been developed by European scientists. The
discovery paves the way for the identification of genes responsible
for the production of emetic toxins (vomiting toxins).
Australian scientists claim that more tender beef is just around
the corner, a move that will make the processing of beef products
easier as well as providing a boon to the consumer market.
Researchers studying rice genomes under a National Science
Foundation Plant Genome Research Program award have identified the
species' first active DNA transposons, or "jumping genes."
'Impractical and unenforceable,' is how the European food
and drink association, the CIAA, last week condemned the new EU
legislation on the labelling of genetically modified organisms in
food. We spoke with Dr Geraldine...
A study by two North Carolina State University geneticists is
tracing the origin and evolution of a genetic mutation that long
ago led to the creation of a type of rice known as glutinous, or
"sticky," rice.
Genetically modified foods, currently fuelling fiery debates across
the world, could help to make the life of the cook more pleasant.
In a new study from Japan, researchers claim to have identified the
enzyme that releases a tear-duct-tickling...
In the first look at the molecular diversity of the starch pathway
in maize, researchers at the North Carolina State University have
found that - in contrast to the high amount of diversity in many of
the maize genes previously studied...
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
have identified the blueprint of genes and enzymes in the body that
enable sulforaphane, a compound found in broccoli and other
vegetables, to prevent cancer and remove...
DuPont Qualicon has appointed UK-based company Oxoid as
distributors in Europe and Australia for its BAX system, an
automated testing platform for food-borne pathogens.
On the same day that we report that the US could be moving towards
firmer rules on genetically modified foods, the American
Association for Laboratory Accreditation has accredited ISO-17025
standards to GeneScan USA, a network of...
A series of research projects from the UK Food Standards Agency
have concluded that "it is extremely unlikely that genes from
genetically modified (GM) food can end up in bacteria in the gut of
people who eat them," the...
In a bid to combat increasing diversity of food-borne pathogens an
on-going European funded 'Quality of Life' project is investigating
a simple method for purifying DNA from bacterial cultures.
US researchers who recently completed the map of the peanut's
genetic code are not just hoping to make peanuts more nutty but
that the genetic blueprint will also help enhance disease
resistance, cut down on pesticide use and...
Dutch ingredients company DSM this week announced the completion of
important research to determine the complete DNA sequence of a key
production organism, the fungus Aspergillus niger.
A bill that would have mandated labelling of all foods in Canada
containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) was defeated in
the Canadian House of Commons.
Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd wholeheartedly supports the use of
genetic modified organisms (GMOs) and stressed this week that it
must be allowed in New Zealand.
Orange juice fortified with calcium lactate/tricalcium phosphate
may affect the survival rate of salmonella whereas calcium citrate
malate and calcium citrate fortifications have little effect.
New regulations on labelling of genetically modified foods, made in
Wellington, New Zealand last month by Health Ministers from New
Zealand and Australian...