To review the past food consumption studies related to the over-consumption of GM foods

There have been no case studies reported on the over eating of GM foods. However, if the GM product emphasize on a particular type of nutrient, and the nutrient is eaten too much, it may cause some toxicity effects.

To review the maximum consumption of GM foods

Health hazards:

Allergenicity-> Proteins may be produced from the Genetic modification which cause allergies. These protein sources may originate from completely unrelated species, which led to allergies in some individuals. A good example would be the case of peanut, which is a common type of food that causes allergic reactions. If genes of the peanut is transferred into another crop, individuals who are allergic to peanuts may develop allergic reactions especially if it is not labelled on the packaging.

Gene transfer-> The transfer of genes to the bacteria of the gastrointestinal tract/ cells of body from the GM food would be a concern if the genetic material (e.g anitibiotic resistant genes) affects health.

Outcrossing-> Eating GM foods that have been given resistance to antibiotics could cause consumers to acquire antibiotic resistance as well. Some plants are injected with antibiotics to help them live longer and fight off infection.However, eating plants or animals that contain antibiotics will only worsen the conditions by introdcing more antibiotics into their systems. The higher is the level of antibiotics, the more prone people are immune to it.

Bacteria-> Bacteria in the human digestive system may collect the antibiotic-resistant genes from the GM foods. This may pose a problem as the bacteria is adapting to the anitbiotics
If bacteria pick up antibiotic-resistant genes, the already growing problem of bacteria adapting to our antibiotics will be magnified.

To review the latest trends and developments of genetic modification

Some examples of developments of GM foods:

Crop-> Tomato
Genetic Modification->Genetically modified tomatoes contain four times the normal quantity of lycopene, a carotenoid.
Benefits->The carotenoids are powerful antioxidantswhich has the ability to lower the risk of heart disease and certain types of cancer.

Crop-> Broccoli
Genetic Modification-> Production of anti-oxidants and anti-carcinogens such as glucosinolate through genetic modification.
Benefits-> Antioxidants and anti-carcinogens prevent or slow down the aging of human cells.

Crop-> Golden rice
Genetic Modification-> Insertion of a gene from narcissus, another from a bacteria and a third conferring resistance to hygromycine (an antibiotic used in the selection of transgenic plants) into rice so that it produces beta-carotene, the precursor to vitamin A.
Benefits-> This rice could help prevent vitamin A deficiencies, which can cause diarrhea, measles, eye diseases and other health problems.

Crop-> Potato
Genetic Modification->Modification of potato to produce more starch.
Benefits->By producing more starch, it decreases fat absorption of the deep fried potato.

Latest news/ reports:

Addition of human genes into the rice
10 March 2007
US Department of Agriculture (USDA) started on three types of the rice to be planted over 1300 hectares in Kansason 28th feb 2007. Developed by Ventria Bioscience of Sacramento, California, the rice varieties have been given genes that either make the human breast milk proteins lactoferrin and lysozyme or the human blood protein albumin. The rice will make human proteins useful for treating infant diarrhoea in the developing world. Ventria plans to extract the albumin for industrial use in cell cultures, while the milk proteins are destined for rehydration drinks used to treat infants with diarrhoea. Trials on 140 children in Peru show the proteins give children a better chance of overcoming the condition and help them recover more than a day faster.
Extracted from:
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/gm-food/mg19325943.100-rice-with-human-genes-to-be-grown-in-us.html

To review the use of GM foods from various sources

GM foods, in short for Genetically modified foods, are foods that are derived from desired traits from plants, animals, insects and other organisms, using the molecular biology method. The genetic engineering method may also be used for the transferring of genes, so that the new modified plant has drought tolerance, for instance. Non plant organisms may also be used, a good example would be the transfer of Bacillus thuringiensis into corn. This type of bacterium produce crystal proteins that kills the insect larvae. This suggests that the newly modified plant is resistent to the insect larvae, as it produces its own pesticides.


Due the the recent technological advancements, scientists have devloped many kinds of food crops with different advantages. These are the following trends of GM foods:

1. Pest resistance->Some crops may be infested by insects, casuing financial losses and starvation in poorer countries. To overcome these problems, farmers used the pesticides and insecticides. However, this pose a problem to the overall health and the environment (water), especially if excessive chemical fertilisers have been used. By growing GM crops, it allows the crops to develop its own pesticides againts insects. This saves cost and minimises pollution to the environment.

2. Herbicide tolerance-> It is not cost effective for the farmers to remove the weeds that have grown over time physically, most farmers choose to destroy the weeds by spraying different quantities of weed killers. Moreover, this is expensive and time-consuming. Crop plants genetically-engineered to be resistant to one very powerful herbicide could help prevent environmental damage by reducing the amount of herbicides needed.

3. Disease resistance-> Many microorganisms are present in the food that we eat, and in the environment, which makes us more susceptible to diseases. Plant biologists uses the genetic engineering method to create plants that are resistance to these diseases.

4. Cold tolerance->Unintended freezing can kill sensitive seedlings. An antifreeze gene from cold water fish has been introduced into plants such as tobacco and potato. With this antifreeze gene, these plants are able to tolerate cold temperatures that normally would kill unmodified seedlings.

5. Drought tolerance-> With increasing population, there has been a demand for housing. As a result, there is a problem of space constrains, which led to land which were originally used for crop production been changed for housing. Food crops has been shift to the land plots which were unsuited for its growth. However these plants are unable to withstand long periods of droughts and the high salinity in the soil and groundwater. Creating plants through genetic modification will help people to grow crops in formerly inhospitable places.

6. Nutrition->Malnutrition is a common problem in the third world countries. With the growth of the GM crops, additional nutrients and vitamins such as vitamin A and Vitamin C may be added which helps to alleviate the problems of nutritional deficiency.

7. Phamaceuticals-> Medicines and vaccines are expensive and require special storage conditions. This may pose a problem in the third world countries where it is not medically advanced. Scientists working in the research field are working to develop edible vaccines in tomatoes and potatoes. These vaccines ensures easier shipping, storage and administration than traditional injectable vaccines.

8. Phytoremedication->It is not neccessary for GM plants to be grown as crops, as pollution continues to pose a problem. With genetic engineering, it allows the heavy metals to be removed from pollution.

New tasks on GM food

TASKS:

+ To review the use of GM foods from various sources.
-To prevent pest infestation, faster and increased harvest returns.
-What are the common trends of GM foods? E.g. resistance against diseases or pests?

+To review the latest trends and developments of genetic modification
-What are the latest developments in the industry of GM foods?
-What are the latest news or reports related to the use of GM foods?

+To review the maximum consumption of GM foods.
-Are there any health hazards during the over-eating of GM foods? What are they?
-What are the other consequences of over-consumption of GM foods?
-Is there a permitted limit based on the acceptable daily intake? What are they?

+To review the past food consumption studies related to the over-consumption of GM foods.
-What are some of the past food consumption studies related to over-eating of GM foods?
-What are the common types of GM foods related to the over-consumption of GM foods?

Background information

As the society becomes more affluent, people are more educated and are more willing to pay more for leisure and luxury. Although they may have been busy, they still seek to have a healthier lifestyle through eating as food is also part of everydays’s life. To meet the requirements of this food trend, our food company proposed to come up with the chicken salad sanwich that is healthy and nutritious. This food product will be able to cater to the needs of the local and the overseas market especially, mainly due to the fact that the market is moving towards healthier foods. In addition, the westerns consume bread as their staple food and the country is concern over their overweight issues. Therefore, our food product is definitely able to meet the market demands as the chicken salad sanwich is a healthy food product which consists of carbohydrate from bread, vitamins and minerals from vegetables, and protein from cheese and chicken. Fats are in minute amounts in this case.

To ensure good sales of this new product, we have to boost the confidence of the consumers not only by means of the taste of the food product, but also the foodsafety issues that are associated. To ensure the safe consumption of our chicken salad sanwich, a HACCP study plan has to be drafted develop. The HACCP study plan is a quality assurance system that is mainly targetted to ensure food safety by minimising microbial spoilage and contamination. The HACCP attempts to identify the spoilage problems at all points along the food manufacturing to service, which starts from supply of raw materials. The HACCP system consists of 7 elements: Identification and assesment of food hazards, determination of crirical control points, specification of criteria of control procedure, establishment and implementation of procedure for monitoring of CCP, establishment of corrective actions when CCP not under control, ensure proper documentation, and establishment of procudures for verification of proper system funtions.

As part of the business policy, a food risk assesment has to be drafted out. This is to ensure proper corrective actions to be taken immediately by authorised parties who are in charge. This will help to prevent any further money loss and legal implications should there be any outbreak of foodborne illness. The food recall plan is one that drafts out actions to be taken by the recall team. The food recall plan serves to protect the consumers and their health by destruction of unsafe foods.

Food legislations varies in different countries. To ensure that the food product is able to market in local and US, the food product has to must meet the legislations of both.

Introduction

Objectives
-To develop a product for the local and United States (US) market.
-To develop the HACCP study plan with identification of critical control points regulations and identificaton of foodborne illnesses associated.
-To identify regulations related to food hazards identified involved in HACCP study.
-To identify the roles of the local authority for hazard control and develop a recall plan study for preparation of any occasion.

Preparation of cheese

Steps in preparing cheese:
1. Remove cheese from packaging.
2. Wash the cheese block.
3. Slice up the cheese using knife and chopping board for cooked food.

Eating cheese

Apart from soft and unripened cheeses, all should be served unchilled for their distictive flavor and texture characteristics. It requires 20 minutes to an hour to do so. In addition, soft and semi-soft cheese should not be kept in room temperature more than 2 hours.

Simple summarised storage guidelines

Cottage cheese
Refrigerator (35-40 degrees F): 5-7 days
Freezer (0 degrees F): 1 month
Comments: Freezing changes texture of soft cheeses. Becomes crumbly when frozen; can be used in cooking when creaminess is not important.

Cream cheese
Refrigerator (35-40 degrees F): 2 weeks
Freezer (0 degrees F): 1 month
Comments: Freezing changes texture of soft cheeses. Becomes crumbly when frozen; can be used in cooking when creaminess is not important.

Parmesan, Romano, (grated)
Refrigerator (35-40 degrees F): 12 months
Freezer (0 degrees F): 6-8 months
Comments: Natural and processed cheeses can be frozen. Defrost in refrigerator; cheese will be less likely to crumble. Use soon after thawing.

Pasteurized process cheese
Refrigerator (35-40 degrees F): 3-4 weeks
Freezer (0 degrees F): 6-8 months
Comments: Natural and processed cheeses can be frozen. Defrost in refrigerator; cheese will be less likely to crumble. Use soon after thawing.

Storage of cheese

Cheese must be properly stored to ensure their quality. Unopened cheese may be stored in the refrigerator in temperatures between 34 and 38 degrees fehrenheit. Under this condition, they may retain their freshness beyond their date of expiry. However, to ensure this, cheeses must be tightly sealed or wrapped to prevent entry of airborne microbes and natural mold spores.

Fresh cheese kept tightly sealed and cold as they are high in moisture. Being more perishable than firmer cheese, they should be consumed within two weeks. Examples of such cheese includes the cottage, cream and Mascarpone.

Semi-soft, firm and hard cheese in the refrigerator, may remain fresh and be kept for four to eight weeks. However, like fresh cheese, they must be wrapped tightly. Some aged cheese may be retain their quality under proper storage cheese.

Hard cheese should be stored in their grated form and stored in sealed container under the refrigerator temperature for up to two weeks. They be stored under the freezer temperature if longer storage (3months) is desired, but must be used directly if it is removed. Examples of such cheeses include the parmesan and Asiago. Moreover, freezing of cheese is not always applied to all cheeses. For instance, if cheeses like cheddar and gouda are frozen, this will cause a crumbly texture, which degrades their quality.

Cheese should be tightly wrapped in foil or other moisture proof freezer wrapping and frozen quickly under the 0 degrees fehrenheit to prevent evaporation.

Having more surface area exposed to air, shredded cheeses tend to lose moisture and develop mold more easily than solid pieces. Thus, shredded cheese should be wrapped tightly and used within few days.

If mold are developed on the surface, they should be cut off about ½ inch from each affected side. The remains should be consumed within the week.

Aromatic cheeses, i.e blue and limburger, must be wrapped tightly and stored in airtight containers as they may spread their smell and flavor to other cheese and foods.

Natural cheese should be stored in the refrigerator, and best stored in their original packaging. If cheeses are opened, they should be stored wrapped tightly in the cling plastic wrap, separated from air and moisture.

In general, soft unripened cheeses can be kept for 10-30 days, if opened, for 2 weeks. Ricotta can be kept for 5 days.
Ripened or cured cheeses can be kept unopened for 3-6months, if opened 3-4weeks and if sliced 2 weeks. Examples are cheddar, edam, gouda, swiss and brick.

Cheese such as Brick, Edam, Muenster, Port du Salut, Swiss, Provolone, Mozzarella, and Camembert, Small cheeses, such as Camembert, can be frozen in their original packaging in small pieces, and thawed in refrigerator. They should be used immediately after thawing.

Classification of cheese

Cheeses are grouped in many ways: type of process used, ripening of cheese and texture of cheese. The are identified according to their country of origin. Unripened and ripened cheese varies in terms of their type of coagulation. Unripened cheese are made from acid coagulated milk proteins (casein) while the ripened cheeses are made by enzymes (runnet) and culture coagulated milk proteins, which are then aged by bacteria or mold.

Risk assesments

Food companies are required to follow the accepted model by the Codex Alimentarius which involves the following procedures:
• Hazard Identification: the identification of known or potential health effects associated with a particular agent.
• Assessment: the qualitative or quantitative evaluation of the degree of intake likely to occur.
• Hazard Characterisation: the qualitative or quantitative evaluation of the nature of the adverse effect associated with the hazard.
• Risk Characterisation: the integration of hazard identification, hazard characterization and exposure assessment into an estimate of the risk and its associated uncertainties.

The risk management recalls food products of affected batches. Instead of only rejecting a single batch, the food company must also take into consideration of possibility of the same problem or type of contamination occurring in different package sizes of the same line, in product with a different use by date, in a different product line all together or same or similar product packaged under a generic label. The plan must ensure that the new batches do not result in the same problems.

If recall actions are to be taken, it should be the following:
• Within the Company
• Regulatory authorities/NZFSA
• Distribution Chain
• Distributors
• Wholesalers
• Retailers
• Caterers
• Consumers

Food recall plan

The purpose of the food recall is to remove the food that has been distributed by the manufacturers. The main purpose of the food recall plan is to protect the consumers and their health by removing the unsafe food. Apart from which, the food manufacturers may suffer a big loss if actions taken are slow, which cause human deaths and incur other legal cases. An effective recall plan would ensure efficient, immediate identification, and rapid destruction of unsafe foods.. This requires a food business to carry out an assessment of the potential risks resulting from the problem with the food, in other words-risk assessment. Risk assessments should only be carried out by competent technical people. If in doubt, food businesses are advised to consult technical advice and/or the local Public Health Unit and/or NZFSA.

The food recall plan involves the business policy and it should be well planned and well written. The food recall plan constitutes of the following elements:
• Reference to the product recall policy
• List of member(s) of the recall team
• Definition of roles and responsibilities for product recall
• Contact names and details including home telephone or mobile numbers
• Definitions of the two classifications of a product recall (see Levels of Product Recall)
• A product recall decision tree
• Mechanisms of notification of a product recall
• Reference to the company’s traceability system
• Guidelines for media contact
• Sample press releases
• Sample product recall notices
• A product recall plan testing procedure
• A product recall review procedure

In order to ensure an effective recall plan with immediate actions, the responsibility of the recall coordinator is very important. The recall coordinator requires the knowledge of all aspects of the operation, which begins from the production, linking to quality, sales, purchasing, marketing, sales, legal services, distribution and supply chain, consumer affairs and public relations. The recall team needs to develop the recall plan, manage the maintenance and testing of recall plan, update the recall plan, direct the product recall activities, recommend changes to minimize the need to remove unsafe foods from the market.

The product recall team should aim to collect the following minimum data set on a suspected food safety incident:
• Product name
• Product description
• Batch codes involved
• Quantity of product implicated
• Distribution details
• Whether the product has been sold to consumers
• The nature of the product fault (hazard).
This information should be verified and fed into the risk assessment process that in turn informs a risk management decision on the level of product recall (i.e. Recall or Withdrawal) and the urgency/resources required.

Food safety

During the early days, I recalled bringing a bottle of water to school from home everyday. The amount of water to be brought is the amount of water I will drink for the whole day. The main reason is because I never dared to drink from water cooler because I always thought that water at the water cooler are never safe for consumption. In a sense, I felt that the water is uncleaned and untreated. However, my naïve thinking was proved wrong as I progressed my studies in the aspect of food safety. Just like the recent case of the Peter pan, when a batch of sample was found to be default, the government and the authorised bodies stepped in to recall all the goods. Similarly, plastic although was only found in one of the kit kat product, but the government has stepped in for the company to retrieve the goods. Since then, the government will definitely take actions against food sectors to ensure food safety of the citizens.

Being the future ambassador of the nation, being one of the future worker of the food industries, it is important that we know what food safety is all about, and practice food safety at all times. Nevertheless, food safety does not concern an individual, it concerns the whole public. In view of such, the food worker upholds very heavy responsiblities.
The food sector played an important role in the National Gross Domestic Profit. With increased food trends, more and more food related businesses has started. With increased competition and increased globalisation, companies have improved in their processes and production line, to improve their product quality and safety. To meet up with the challenges, many companies have come up with food hygiene and safety systems such as HACCP, ISO standards, developing new and innovative products, for tackling local and overseas market. Local food manufacturers have also changed their traditional mindset and strategies on pricing, marketing and management style. However, food safety is still the primary concern.

Being the key players in the food sectors, the manufacturers take a major role in ensuring food safety. The food industries have to ensure that food produced along the processing line meets the AVA stringent standards. The food industries must ensure that they enforce good manufacturing practices. Apart from educating their own workers on the food safety issues, it is also necessary for the industry players provide adequate information to the consumers.

Nevertheless, consumers themselves also played a role in ensuring food safety. This is mainly due to the fact that consumers have total direct control over food prepared. Therefore, it is important that consumers know about all the food safety issues, especially when handling foods that can be easily contaminated. By doing so, they can avoid the risks of contamination and safegaard themselves and their families.

Foodborne illnesses are diseases that started related to food, usually caused by microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. Food poisoning are mainly caused by salmonella, E.Coli, etc. Foodborne illnesses may cause fever, nausea, vomiting and if there are complications, it may even result in death. Since then, food safety is indeed an important aspect when it comes to food production. Despite importing about 90% of the food from affected countries, Singapore managed to be free from foodborne illnesses. The main reason is due to the stringent standards that are set by the AVA that provided security measures for safe consumption. The AVA ensures that the foods consumed are wholesome, nutritious and of good quality before it is retailed.

AVA, in short for The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), is the national authority for food safety in Singapore. AVA sets strict food safety regulations that comply with the international regulations. It ensures that up to date food legislation is in order and properly enforced though inspection and testing programmes. AVA also educates consumers on food-borne hazards and how to keep food safe. The AVA's inspection and epidemiology team (ISED) conducts checks on imported primary produce, lifestock and processed food at entry, farms poultry slaughterhouses, meat, fish and food processing companies, and cold storage facilities; Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) programmes of food processing establishments; Monitoring and surveillance programmes; and risk assessment and epidemiology studies.

The AVA works hand in hand with the Food laboratory, which has been recognised by the WHO as collaborating Centre for Food Contamination Monitoring. The Food laboratory carries out analytical services including testing for additives, contaminants and food composition in both public and private sectors; it serves as a reference laboratory for the enforcing of Food act and Regulations; certification for import and export quality; it also conducts investigations, surveys and research activities pertaining to food quality and safety.

In addition, the AVA works with the Veterinary Public Health Centre (VPHC), which provides important support of the food safety monitoring and surveillence programmes. It updates it food inspection continuously and ensures that food test capablities.

The Food Safety Partnership Scheme was also enforced to award the food manufacturers and importers, supermarket operators and food retailers withgood food safety assurance and good safety consumer education efforts. Examples of companies under this scheme are Chop Hup Chong Food Industries Pte Ltd, Cold Storage Singapore (1983) Pte Ltd, NTUC FairPrice Co-operative Ltd and Thong Siek Food Industry Pte Ltd.

Some of the food safety tips that can be practiced are:
-Plan ahead, make sure location meets your needs.
-Store and prepare food safely.
-Cook food to internal safe temperature.
-Transport food safely.
-When reheating, bring food to a boil.
-Keep food out of danger zone. (40-140degrees F)
-When in doubt, throw it away.

Four important points to note to fight bacteria:
Clean: Wash hands and surfaces often
Separate: Do not cross contaminate
Cook: Cook to proper temperatures
Chill: Refrigerate promptly

Therefore, in summary, it is not only the task of the government bodies to ensure food safety, but also the consumers’ role and the food industry’s role. By ensuring food safety, we will be able to prevent foodborne illnesses that may cause harm to individuals. We must be vigilant and protect ourselves during the times of diseases such as the H5N1 virus, though it is not spreadable from humans to humans now. In all, We must ensure food safety.