Facebook
topbanner-geneediting_2.webp
The Future

Gene Edited Food

Larger groundcherries. High-nutrient soybeans. Mushrooms that don't brown. Hornless cattle. These are existing examples of gene-edited crops and animals that, in some countries, are close to reaching supermarket shelves. Gene editing could revolutionise agriculture, but its progress will depend largely on how it is regulated.

Gene Editing & Genetic Modification in Agriculture 

Making genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has long been a costly and stringently regulated process. Transgenic GMOs are created by transplanting desirable genes from one species into another, and there have long been concerns that this transfer of foreign genes might have unforeseen negative effects on the environment or consumers.1

But, gene editing can alter genes in an organism’s genome without inserting any foreign DNA. And a new fast, accurate technique known as CRISPR-Cas9 was developed seven years ago to do just that. 

 CRISPR-Cas9

CRISPR-Cas9 - how does it work?

Such mutations – changes to genetic code like deletions or alterations of genes – already occur in nature. For decades, farmers have selected crops and animals with desirable mutations to breed together.  

There is even the technique of ‘mutation breeding’, where crop plants are exposed to chemicals or radiation to try to generate beneficial mutations. Some 3,200 existing varieties of crops have been developed over 80 years using mutation breeding.2 But, are gene-edited organisms regulated at all?

How Are Countries Regulating Gene Editing?

Gene Editing

Across different countries, attitudes to gene editing may resemble those applied to transgenic GMOs.

European Union

In Europe, only one GM crop (herbicide-resistant corn) has ever been approved for growing and is found in five member states.3 In 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union decided to regulate gene-edited organisms like transgenic GMOs. The first person to eat a CRISPR-Cas9 edited plant was a Swedish researcher in 2016, but it’s unlikely any more Europeans will follow suit for a long time.4 

United States of America

In the USA, nearly all corn, cotton and soybeans are GM crops.5 And in 2018 the USDA announced it would not regulate gene-edited crops. A similar approach is taken by Brazil and Argentina, which are the following top global producers of GM crops. But in 2017, the FDA proposed it may regulate gene-edited animals similarly to drugs.

Australia & Japan 

As of 2019, Australia also does not regulate gene editing, provided that the process inserts no DNA, and Japan has also declared gene-edited foods safe.  

China

China has not yet taken an official stance but has over 20 labs dedicated to developing better crops using CRISPR-Cas9.6 

Which Foods Are Gene-Edited?

Gene-Edited Foods

There are already two gene-edited products in the USA: 

  • Canola oil from herbicide-resistant plants was first available in 2019.7 
  • Soybean is edited to be high in oleic acid, a healthier fat found in olive oil and avocados. The oil was first sold to Midwest restaurants in 2018.8 

However, these crops were made using older gene-editing techniques. Upcoming crops that were edited with the new CRISPR-Cas9 method may include: 

  • ‘Waxy corn’, which contains higher levels of starch. It will first be used for label adhesive and to improve the consistency of food products. 
  • Non-browning lettuce that stays green for longer due to deleted genes for polyphenol oxidase (the enzyme which causes browning), giving it a longer shelf life. This could potentially save $3.3 billion of lettuce from being wasted each year.

These could be just the tip of the iceberg. Oliver Peoples, CEO of Yield10 Bioscience, says a transgenic GM plant species can require up to $130 million per genetic change and take a decade to approve.10 That’s partly because of the sheer number of science studies and regulatory analyses that need to be done. 

What About Gene-Edited Animals? 

Gene-Edited Animals

In the USA, there is one approved transgenic GMO animal (a fast-growing salmon), which took 20 years to approve and is still not available for sale.11 

Some companies developing gene-edited organisms have deliberately moved to countries where regulation is lighter or non-existent. British genetics company Genus has modified DNA in pigs, which makes them resistant to Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, a disease that kills hundreds of thousands of piglets and sows each year. In 2019, they sold the license to a company in China.12

Impact of Regulation on Gene-Edited Foods

Light regulation and more precise technology often allow faster development of gene-edited organisms compared to transgenic GMOs. For example, Intrexon’s non-browning lettuce moved from idea to commercial trials in just two years. 

In 2016, US company Recombinetics inserted a ‘hornless’ gene into the DNA of another cow breed to create livestock cattle without the physical inconvenience and injuries that horns can cause.13 This work was deliberately carried out in Brazil, where gene-editing is not regulated as heavily as genetic engineering of GMOs. Recombinetics disagreed that gene-edited organisms should be subject to the same amount of regulation as new drugs, as would happen in the USA. “It will kill the industry. It will restrict the industry to only the most wealthy companies,” said co-founder Scott Fahrenkrug to The Atlantic in 2017.14

The company made the edited cattle’s genome publicly available online. But in 2019, the US FDA happened to identify bacterial DNA in the genome of the hornless cattle and some of their offspring.15 The bacterial DNA had been incorporated via the gene-editing technique the company had used. With 0.0000013% bacteria in their DNA, the hornless cattle were technically classified as GMOs - enough for the Brazilian government to cancel the project. It was a reminder that gene editing is still a new, expanding science - one that needs refinement but which also has the potential for unexpected results. 

Recombinetics says their gene editing method no longer uses bacterial DNA. It is still working in Brazil to develop a breed of heat-tolerant cattle and has plans to expand to Canada and Australia.16   
 

Keep updated with the latest news about your food with our newsletter.

Subscribe

Related articles

Most viewed

The Future

How Does Lobbying Impact our Food and Agricultural Policies?

Claudia Lee

Lobbying is often considered the sole remit of large companies and firms, but it also has the…

Earth First

Fungi in Sustainable Food Production

Anne Reshetnyak

Fungi are not just fun to forage and delicious to eat, they can also be useful for food…

Earth First

Why Soil Matters

Annabel Slater

Soil is a precious mixture of the living, the never-living, and the dead. It’s a vital resource…

Human Stories

Food and Place | Does Where You Live Influence Your Eating Habits?

Luke Cridland

Where food is sold is not decided randomly, and many factors go into determining where you can buy…

The Future

5 Ways To Lower Cattle Methane Emissions

Toon Lambrechts

Cows are increasingly seen as climate criminals alongside cars and aeroplanes. Livestock is being…

The Future

Food Forests | Sustainable Agriculture, Nature’s Way

Lina Dilly

Discover how food forests could future proof our food systems.

The Future

Food Deserts | Why Do They Exist?

Madhura Rao

Income inequality is on the rise in many parts of the world today. Even in countries that are…

The Future

AI and the Future of Flavour

Annabel Slater

Ever thought of pairing oysters and kiwi? How about caviar on your white chocolate? These pairings…

The Future

Traceability in the Food System

Luke Cridland

Where has food come from, and where is it going? Knowing this is crucial to sustaining food supply…

Earth First

Can a Policy Stop Companies From Greenwashing?

Inés Oort Alonso

In 2022, the EU planned to tackle empty ‘green claims’ with new legislation. Here’s how it…

The Future

A Home For Wild Mammals in the Heart of the Farmlands

Ruscena Wiederholt

Industrial Agriculture is a leading driver of climate destabilisation and biodiversity loss. But…

The Future

Farming The Food Chain | Low Trophic Aquaculture

Oliver Fredriksson

If I said ‘seafood’ to you, what springs to mind? Chances are ‘low trophic’…

References
  1. Coghlan, A (2015). “More than half of EU officially bans genetically modified crops.” Accessed 24/11/2019.
  2. Jansson, S. (2018). “Gene‐edited plants on the plate: the ‘CRISPR cabbage story.” Accessed 24/11/2019.
  3. Fernandez-Cornejo, J. Et al. (2014). “Genetically engineered crops in the United States.” Accessed 24/11/2019.
  4. Cohen, J. (2019). “To feed its 1.4 billion, China bets big on genome editing of crops.” Accessed 24/11/2019
  5. AgroPages. “Cibus launches new seed brand Falco, bringing change and choice to North American canola growers.” Accessed 24/11/2019
  6. Wilke, C. (2019). “Gene edited soybean makes restaurant debut.” Accessed 24/11/2019.
  7. Seedworld. “Intrexon announces advances in non-browning GreenVenus romaine lettuce.” Accessed 25/11/2019.
  8. Taylor, A.P. (2019). “Companies use CRISPR to improve crops.” Accessed 24/11/2019
  9. Maxman, A. (2017). “Gene-edited animals face US regulatory crackdown.” Accessed 24/11/2019
  10. Burkard, C., et al. (2018). “Pigs Lacking the Scavenger Receptor Cysteine-Rich Domain 5 of CD163 Are Resistant to Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus 1 Infection.” Accessed 24/11/19
  11. Carlson, D., et al. (2016). “Production of hornless dairy cattle from genome-edited cell lines.” Accessed 24/11/2019
  12. “The FDA wants to regulate gene-editing that makes cows less horny.” The Atlantic. Accessed 30/10/20
  13. Norris, A.L., et al. (2020). “Template plasmid integration in germline genome-edited cattle.” Accessed 24/11/2019
  14. Molteni, M. (2019). “Brazil’s plans for gene-edited cows got scrapped.” Accessed 24/11/2019
See MoreSee Less

Keep updated with the latest news about your food with our newsletter

Subscribe

Follow Us