For an industry that is seemingly under continuous attack by anti-science and anti-corporate idealists, there has been some positive press for agriculture, food and science to celebrate. For agriculture using modern farming practices of genetically modified crops, chemicals and synthetic fertilizers, and scientific advancement, this has been a pretty decent …
Poison Squad set to determine acceptable limits for toxins in food If you’ve ever had the misfortune of eating something that results in food poisoning, then you know the agony that results. Curled up and shivering on the bathroom floor is not how any of us would want to spend …
Or, be sure to regulate the process, rather than the product In 2002, Europe establishing a new regulatory agency, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to resolve its regulation problems regarding GM crops and other food safety challenges. This new agency assesses the risk of the process used to create …
Is Halloween a front to sell more of a sugary GM plant? What is scarier? The ghosts and goblins that come to your door tonight trick or treating or the candy you’re handing out that likely has sugar in it that comes from a GM plant? Well, some would have …
How conventional plant breeding has evolved in the digital age While I generally have a pretty decent memory, my recollections of high school biology in the early 1980s consists of trying to get a microscope to focus properly so that I could see an onion skin cell. Rarely could I …
United Nations Biodiversity ConferenceAt what point does prevention and precaution trump science and innovation? Depending on who one asks, the responses would run the full gamut from never to always. My view is that as long as the identifiable risks can be adequately addressed, then one should proceed. Of late, …
International effort to provide Ethiopia with food security through pulses Pulses are dry edible seeds, relatively inexpensive to produce and purchase, which are chalked full of nutrients, protein, and fibre. Globally, pulses are an important crop and food source, like in Ethiopia where pulses represent ~14% of Ethiopia’s cropland. After …
Science is the standard that has been used for decades to find solutions, innovate and improve efficiencies, but increasingly, society is less certain about science and reassurances are sought through socio-economic assessments. There are two options to assess risks of new technologies and products: the first, to use strictly science-based …
What research looks like when it is and is not performed by scientistsFood safety laws and regulations are constantly evolving; from what initially began as a basic and patchwork start to today’s highly technical tact, relying on leading science to inform and improve what is, and isn’t, permitted. Our food …
Risk assessment of all novel foods and plants An important question that many of us may not have thought of is, how are new food products tested to be determined safe to be eaten by humans? Each year dozens of new plant varieties, novel foods or newly imported foods, are …
