Moseley B E
Reading, Berkshire, UK.
Allergy. 2001;56 Suppl 67:61-3. doi: 10.1034/j.1398-9995.2001.00100.x-i1.
It is the responsibility of companies developing genetically modified foods, and of regulatory authorities that approve their marketing, to ensure that they are at least as safe as the traditional foods they are intended to replace in the diet. This requires that any novel material introduced into the food material should not be allergenic. If the novel gene has come from an allergenic source, e.g. nuts, it is necessary to demonstrate using immunological procedures applied to the IgE fractions of pooled sera from individuals with confirmed allergies that the novel protein is non-allergenic. When the novel gene is from a non-allergenic source then it is necessary to demonstrate lack of significant amino acid sequence homology to known allergens together with sensitivity to food manufacturing and digestive processes. Consumer confidence in genetically modified foods would be significantly improved if hypoallergenic varieties of crops and food products that are currently allergenic could be developed. Techniques such as antisense technology and single site amino acid substitution have been shown to have such potential.
开发转基因食品的公司以及批准其上市的监管机构有责任确保这些食品至少与它们打算在饮食中取代的传统食品一样安全。这就要求引入食品原料中的任何新物质不应具有致敏性。如果新基因来自致敏源，例如坚果，那么有必要通过对确诊过敏个体的混合血清的IgE组分应用免疫程序来证明新蛋白质无致敏性。当新基因来自非致敏源时，则有必要证明其氨基酸序列与已知过敏原无显著同源性，以及对食品加工和消化过程的敏感性。如果能够培育出目前具有致敏性的作物和食品的低致敏品种，消费者对转基因食品的信心将得到显著提高。诸如反义技术和单一位点氨基酸取代等技术已显示出具有这种潜力。
