Biotechnology Department, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Safat, Kuwait.
GM Crops Food. 2012 Oct-Dec;3(4):283-8. doi: 10.4161/gmcr.21364. Epub 2012 Aug 15.
Developments in genetic engineering technology have led to an increase in number of food products that contain genetically engineered crops in the global market. However, due to lack of scientific studies, the presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the Kuwaiti food market is currently ambiguous. Foods both for human and animal consumption are being imported from countries that are known to produce GM food. Therefore, an attempt has been made to screen foods sold in the Kuwaiti market to detect GMOs in the food. For this purpose, samples collected from various markets in Kuwait have been screened by SYBR green-based real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method. Further confirmation and GMO quantification was performed by TaqMan-based RT-PCR. Results indicated that a significant number of food commodities sold in Kuwait were tested positive for the presence of GMO. Interestingly, certain processed foods were tested positive for more than one transgenic events showing complex nature of GMOs in food samples. Results of this study clearly indicate the need for well-defined legislations and regulations on the marketing of approved GM food and its labeling to protect consumer's rights.
基因工程技术的发展导致全球市场上含有转基因作物的食品越来越多。然而，由于缺乏科学研究，科威特食品市场中是否存在转基因生物（GMO）目前尚不清楚。用于人类和动物消费的食品都从已知生产转基因食品的国家进口。因此，人们试图对在科威特市场上销售的食品进行筛选，以检测食品中的转基因生物。为此，通过 SYBR 绿色实时聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）方法对从科威特各个市场收集的样本进行了筛选。进一步通过 TaqMan 实时 RT-PCR 进行了确认和 GMO 定量分析。结果表明，在科威特销售的大量食品商品都被检测出含有转基因生物。有趣的是，某些加工食品对不止一个转基因事件呈阳性反应，表明食品样本中的转基因生物具有复杂的性质。这项研究的结果清楚地表明，需要制定明确的关于批准的转基因食品营销及其标签的法规，以保护消费者的权利。
