Food For Thought
Editorial Info - Knowing about the food you prepare and eat is very important and this article addresses just that. Many traditional food making processes depend on living organisms.
Biotechnology In Agriculture - Food for Thought
Do you eat bread or cheese or use antibiotics? Then you have been enjoying the fruits of biotechnology. Biotechnology is the use of living organisms, or their parts, to produce new products.
Many traditional food making processes depend on living organisms. Yeast is used to make bread rise. Bacteria is used to “age” cheese and make sour cream. Some medicines, such as antibiotics, are manufactured from substances produced from other organisms, such as bacteria and fungi. In fact, the scientist who discovered penicillin started out with a piece of moldy bread. Today scientists are refining these biotechnology methods so that the results are controlled and specific.
Do you know what long-stemmed roses and low fat pork have in common? Both are the result of very old agricultural practices of biotechnology that improve the characteristics of plants or animals through selective breeding. For hundreds of years farmers and scientists have created new and better products for consumers by breeding the plants or animals with the most desirable characteristics.
The New Wave of Biotechnology
Since the 1970s, researchers have learned how to take these traditional techniques one step further. They have shortened the plant breeding process and increased its precision by working directly with the genes of organisms. Genes are the hereditary units that form the “blueprint” of an organism. Scientists can remove or change specific genes that determine the particular characteristics of one organism and move those genes into another organism’s genetic makeup.
The movement of genes into other organisms, more commonly known as “genetic engineering” or “recombinant DNA technology,” is the newest technique of biotechnology.
Combining genetic engineering with conventional breeding methods can be a quicker, more accurate way of producing new foods and new plant and animal varieties. For example, a crop breeder can now introduce a new characteristic into a crop variety in five or six years, rather than the 12 to 15 years it previously took using conventional methods. It is now possible to breed crops with new characteristics, like resistance to insects, frost or disease, using genetic engineering. And some of these new crops will reduce the need for chemicals in agriculture.
How Will Biotechnology Affect You?
Biotechnology could become as much a part of our everyday lives as the computer has. It will change the way many common goods and materials are produced.
It will also generate many new products, from foods to fertilizers to fuel. Better quality and greater selection are the future of agriculture.
Biotechnology will also have major payoffs for Canada’s economy. It is creating opportunities for farmers, food processors and distributors to sell new or improved goods in Canada and around the world. It is enabling farmers to achieve greater yields, assuring higher levels of food production to meet increasing world demand for food.
Biotechnology Working for You
Improved crops. Working with plant genes, scientists are developing new disease- and pest- resistant crop varieties. They are also developing new crop varieties able to withstand cold temperatures, drought and other environmental stresses.
Enhanced food and feed products. Fast-rising dough, new processes to clarify fruit juices and wine, low-calorie sweeteners, cereals with higher nutritional quality, leaner meat-these are among the new products biotechnology will impact. New processes are being developed to add nutritional value to many human foods and animal feeds.
Better, healthier animals. Biotechnology can be used to improve animal health and nutrition. Using biotechnology, scientists can produce more effective, less expensive vaccines to combat animal diseases like foot and mouth disease and rabies.
Chemical substitutes. In addition to traditional chemicals, farmers will be able to choose from a wider range of “environmentally compatible” biological pest control products and fertilizers. Specially bred plants will have more effective defenses against pests.
New disease diagnostic kits. Disease diagnostic kits, using cell products such as enzymes and antibodies, will allow quicker and more exact identification of disease organisms in crops and animals.
What is the Canadian Federal Government Doing?
As new technologies emerge, the federal government responds to protect the Canadian public and to keep pace with new developments. The lead agency responsible for the regulation of agricultural products, including those developed through the application of biotechnology, is the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), although it is not the only federal agency involved.
By law, researchers and manufacturers must meet specific safety requirements before testing potential agricultural products outside the laboratory, and before selling or importing these products. The federal government evaluates these products to assess possible risks to the environment and human and animal health before the commercial use of products is allowed.
The legal responsibilities of researchers and manufacturers of agricultural products, including those produced by biotechnology, are contained in the following federal acts and regulations: Food and Drugs, Health of Animals, Canada Agricultural Products, Feeds, Fertilizers, Seeds, Meat Inspection, Pest Control Products and Plant Protection.
The CFIA evaluates and conducts safety assessments of fertilizers, seeds, plants or plant products, animals, animal vaccines and feeds. Health Canada conducts safety and efficacy assessments of novel food products, veterinary drugs, and through the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, pest control products.
In the development of its regulations and guidelines, the CFIA confers with many Canadians with differing interests including scientists, industry representatives, public-interest groups and expert advisers from other federal departments, including Health, Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries and Oceans.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) is involved in the advancement of agricultural products, both domestically and internationally. AAFC researchers also apply the techniques of biotechnology for the improvement of agricultural and agri-food products and processes. As a developer of agricultural products of biotechnology, AAFC must meet the same legal responsibilities as all other researchers and manufacturers.