FST4830

Noor Liyana Yusof, PhD

Current issues in
plant based foods
 GENETICALLY
MODIFIED FOODS:
IS IT HEALTHFUL
OR HARMFUL?
 Genetically modified foods

• Genetically modified (GM) foods are generally foods

that derived from genetically modified organisms.
• Alter the genetic make up of plants/animals

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLfRquA9Vvs
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLQJoNCoP1w
 Genetically modified foods

How are GMOs created?

 Control tomatoes
deterioration versus
genetically modified
tomatoes from a
study entitled,
"Enhancement of
fruit shelf life by
suppressing N-
glycan processing
enzymes – Meli et al.
(2010)
What traits have been modified in GM crops?

• Insect-resistant crops contain genes

from the soil bacterium Bacillus
thuringiensis (Bt). The protein
produced in the plant by the Bt
gene is toxic to a targeted group of
insects - corn.
• Herbicide tolerant (HT) crops -
Roundup Ready®- tolerant to
glyphosate. Glyphosate inactivates
a key enzyme involved in amino
acid synthesis that is present in all
green plants; therefore, it is an
effective broad spectrum herbicide
against nearly all weeds.
Some cultivars of corn and cotton are
referred to as ‘stacked’, meaning they have
transgenes for both insect resistance and
HT. According to USDA-ERS (2013), over
half of the U.S. corn and cotton acreage
was planted to stacked cultivars in 2013.
 Which GM crops are currently grown in the U.S.?

19 plant species
have been
approved,
only 8 GM crop
species are
grown
commercially
What are potential GM crops of the future?

Disease resistance: Orange trees resistant to citrus greening disease or

American chestnut trees resistant to fungal blight;

Stress tolerance: Tolerance to high and low temperatures, salinity, and

drought;

Nutritional enhancement: Higher vitamin content; more healthful

fatty acid profiles;

Phytoremediation: Plants that extract and concentrate contaminants

like heavy metals from polluted sites.

Biofuels: Plants with altered cell wall composition for more efficient
conversion to ethanol;
 Effects of
GMOs

Safety Environment Economy Society Ethics

 • Reduced competition
Economy • Cheaper price than organic foods
• High seed cost
 *Individually regulate the
GM issues:

GM crops regulated
in the U.S

USDA EPA FDA

Involve only in pest

Approving the field Regulates crops
and pesticide
release of most GM resistance traits, and destined for food, feed,
plants or pharmaceuticals
FDA only
 Any other GM foods?

No GM animals have
yet been approved in
the US

1. GM microorganisms are used to produce rennin for

production of cheese
2. GM yeast has been approved for winemaking
Are GM crops grown in other countries?

• According to a recent report

(James 2014), GM crops were
grown in 26 other countries in
2013.
• The largest global acreage
crops are:
• The U.S. has the greatest area
of these crops, about 40% of
the world total.
• Other large producers include
Brazil, Argentina, India, and
Canada.
 GMOs restricted countries
• Africa – Algeria
• Asia – Thailand, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Philippine
• Europe – Norway, UK, Spain, Italy, France
• Middle East – Saudi Arabia, Egypt
• Australia, New Zealand, Fiji
 Malaysia?
Malaysia has approved eight genetically
modified (GM) maize/corn products and
six GM soybean products for food, feed and
processing purposes.

Most Malaysians are unaware of these approvals.

 Labeling
• Not mandatory in some countries (US and Canada)
• Have to put label even if it’s partially GM
Science vs. public fear
Science vs. public fear
 Genetically modified organisms
• GM crops represent an important new technology which
ought to have the potential to do much good in the world
• Many groups and sectors of society & publics are concerned
with the implications of GM crops  further and in depth
research is needed to prove the harmful effect towards human
health
• Put in place a regulatory framework that has provided a
reasonable set of controls for the experimental stage of the
technology
Current issues
in foods
 Definition of HALAL
• Means permitted, allowed, lawful
• Free from substances forbidden (HARAM)
animals
• Not containing filthy substances, according to
Islamic law
• Not prepared using equipment that has been
used to process non halal foods
 Sources of HALAL food and drinks
• All plant types & their products – except those
poisonous and harmful to human health
• Water animals – Those only live in water, except
poisonous and harmful
• Drinks – all forms of water except those
poisonous and intoxicating
Pig’s derived products
 (Mashbooh) Unsure foods
• Foods containing ingredients such as:
Gelatin, lard, shortenings
Enzymes – rennet, chymosin, rennin, lipase, pepsin
Emulsifiers E417
Antibiotics derived from animal origin e.g. non
slaughtered/pig based
Flavours
Food additives, colorant E120
• In today’s world, we have a few ways to get rennet for
cheese-making:
1) Animal (typically a young calf, goat or sheep)
2) Vegetable (from plants such as nettles or thistle);
3) Microbial (from fungi and yeast)
4) Genetically-modified sources
 HALAL
How much it worth? Halal Muslim Markets

• 1.8 billion Muslims Algeria, Iran, Lebanon,

globally
• Halal food & non halal
products (financial services,
pharmaceuticals and
cosmetics industries –
estimated RM 8 trillion)
Qatar, Turkey, Bahrain, Iraq,
Malaysia, Saudi Arabia,
UAE, Egypt, Jordan,
Morocco, Syria, Yemen,
Indonesia, Kuwait, Oman,
Tunisia
Driving force for halal food market?

Awareness Growing of
Muslim
population

Increasing demand
for safe, high quality
& spiritual foods
Halal Food
Issues
 Halal food fraud in Malaysia

Catfish fed Pig based Issue on Minced Sausages with Moon cakes
with pig by- products bread pork with non halal with non-
products stored making casing, halal
feed together using lard halal label
expired halal ingredients
with halal as
certificate labelled with
frozen foods ingredients
halal logo
 Halal Issue
• Halal food is sensitive & a serious matter to every
Muslim
• Understanding and awareness level of halal issue
between producer and consumers
• Government action to monitor the exploitation of halal
logo
• Shared responsibility to produce halal foods.
 Assignment

2 minutes video
10 min presentation
 Current Issues in Food Processing of
Plant Products

Food for
Fruits & Perishable and Less meat, Poor future,
Food Safety Food security Monocrops vegetables waste sensitive tissue agriculture
more choice military and
Fatin Afiq Shonia Syamil Shuhada practice
Hatim aerospace
Hanani Farhana
 Suggested points
• Food safety – Prevalence of Salmonella in Lettuce, Cabbage, and Mixed Salads
Throughout the World, food recall, food poisoning resulted in death,
pesticides/antibiotics, growth hormones, physical hazards, melamine issue, plastic egg,
vegetables
• Food security – hunger, starvation, climate change, drought/flood, imbalance food
supply between region e.g. Africa & Europe
• Monocrops - bad for the environment because it’s chemical dependent, harmful to
wildlife and ecosystems, and kills the soil e.g. palm oil in Malaysia and soy plantation in
Argentina
• Fruits & vegetables waste – Waste keep increasing, 39% waste coming from F&V
commodity, Supermarket & household waste contribute, handling, perishable leads to
foods been thrown away, shelf life improvement, how worldwide is tackling food waste
initiative taken to reduce food loss and waste?
 Suggested points

• Perishable and sensitive tissue - contributes to waste, current trends on

preservation methods, advanced technologies, how to prevent food waste,
metabolic activity of plant tissue makes it deteriorates faster, solution? etc.
• Less meat, more choices – the rise of alternate protein, Increasing choice and
micro-markets for food, meat depriving in 2050, less land to rear cattle,
alternative insects eating culture in Europe, healthier choice of F&V? less
saturated fat, carbon foot print
• Poor agricultural practice – GAP, handling during supply chain, sustainable
agriculture, ban use of antibiotics? Any farm to fork issue
• Food for future – is there any thoughts given by Malaysian food scientist just
yet?, nutritional content, customized foods, food for survival, extreme
environment, or once disasters happen and how to distribute, criteria that food
for future should have, what happens to the research done by our former
astronaut? Continuity or ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmUvuEDd3eY

Watch this 
 References
• http://ecosalon.com/the-10-biggest-issues-with-the-global-food-system/
• https://ac-els-cdn-com.ludwig.lub.lu.se/S0309174013003409/1-s2.0-
S0309174013003409-main.pdf ?_tid=6b7456c2-5ca3-46bd-bd41-
fe4bb21d2b52&acdnat=1525168873_521075f12f2a55a1004d4b6505ab35f1
• http://maxwellsci.com/print/ajfst/v3-384-388.pdf
• https://agroindustry.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/current-issues-in-
halal-food.pdf
• http://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/agriculture/genetically-
modified-gm-crops-techniques-and-applications-0-710/