Under its broadest definition, food biotechnology started thousands of years ago when primitive man advanced from hunting and gathering food to farming. For thousands of centuries, plant breeders selected, sowed and harvested seeds to produce enough food to sustain life and to develop desirable traits in their crops such as better taste, richer colour and hardier plants.

At the beginning of this century, farmers carefully selected plants with beneficial traits and began breeding them together, creating new varieties and hybrids  new plants with some of the qualities of each of the parents. They also made traditional ingredients such as yoghurt, vinegar, rice wine, soya sauce and tempeh. Though they did not understand the underlying scientific principles involved, early farmers have been harnessing biotechnology for centuries to make or modify plants and food products.

Scientists now understand the nature of these biological processes and have developed new techniques to improve on them. Techniques of modern biotechnology allow scientists to improve crops and foods made using traditional methods. In some cases, modern biotechnology makes available products that were non-existent before.

Biotechnology holds great promise in the fields of medicine, environmental management, food production and agriculture.

Medicine - A host of biotechnology-based pharmaceuticals are now available to treat diseases. Insulin, for example, is available for the treatment of diabetes and growth hormone is used to treat developmental disorders and to promote wound healing. Biotechnology offers new methods of producing vaccines to help prevent diseases such as Hepatitis B and to help in the detection and diagnosis of viral diseases and inherited disorders.

Environmental Management - Biotechnology offers new opportunities for the protection of the environment. For example, genetically modified bacteria may be used to convert organic wastes to useful products or to clean up oil spills.

Food Production - Food production is another area in which biotechnology plays a significant role by standardising the production of large quantities of ingredients, vitamins, starter cultures and enzymes for food processing.

Agriculture  Scientists are able to improve the appearance of fruits and vegetables, increase the time food can be stored, enhance the nutrient content of plants and foods and produce crops that are resistant to diseases and pests. In the future, biotechnologists hope to produce plants that can withstand unfavourable climatic conditions such as drought, extreme heat or cold, thereby enabling farmers to cultivate land that is currently poorly used. Micropropagation techniques - where plants are grown from single cells or plant segments  are used in many plant breeding nurseries to allow for rapid multiplication of identical plants. Genetic modification of ornamental plants, widely used in Asia, allows for the development of unusual colours thereby increasing variety and commercial value.

The primary aim of modern biotechnology is to make a living cell perform a specific useful task in a predictable and controllable way. The task could be to ferment soya beans to make soya sauce or to breed a plant that has a higher yield or increased resistance to insect attacks.

Whether a living cell will perform these tasks is determined by its genetic make-up, that is by the instructions contained in the collection of chemical messages found within its genes. These genes are passed on from one generation to the next so that offspring inherit a range of individual traits from their parents.

In 1953, scientists discovered that deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is found in all living things and that a gene is a segment of DNA that has a specific sequence, or code, of chemicals. This code determines various characteristics or traits such as eye or hair colour. In 1973, scientists identified a way to isolate genes and by the 1980s, they had developed the tools necessary to transfer genes (and therefore traits) from one organism to another.

With the discovery of enzymes that could be used to cut or remove a gene segment from a chain of DNA at a specific site along the strand, scientists were able to introduce new instructions that would cause cells to produce needed chemicals, carry out useful processes or give an organism desirable characteristics. This technique is called "recombinant DNA" (rDNA) technology. The result is modern biotechnology  the science of transferring specific genetic instructions from one cell to another.

In addition to transferring genes between species, it is possible to eliminate undesirable traits by switching off the genes responsible for these traits. For example, this technology has been used to switch off the gene responsible for softening in tomatoes. In the future, it may even be possible to remove the proteins that may cause allergic reactions from foods such as peanuts and milk.

Traditional plant breeding techniques using the controlled pollination of plants have limitations. Firstly, sexual crosses can only occur within the same or related species. This limits the genetic sources breeders can depend upon to enhance desirable characteristics of plants.

Secondly, when two whole plants are crossed, each having some 100,000 genes or so, all the genes from both plants get jumbled up. This presents a problem as the plant offspring may express both desirable and undesirable traits of the parent plants. Because of this, breeders must spend years "back crossing" the jumbled up plants with the plant they started with, again and again, to slowly breed out the tens of thousands of genes they do not want. Traditional plant breeding takes time, sometimes as long as 10 to 12 years.

Plant biotechnology is an extension of traditional plant breeding with one important difference. Instead of mixing hundreds of thousands of genes to improve a crop plant, modern breeders can use biotechnology to select a specific trait from any plant, microbe or animal and move it into the genetic code of another plant. This is possible because of the similarity of all living things at the DNA level. After the gene has been transferred, the newly modified plant exhibits specific modifications rather than the extensive changes that occur with traditional breeding.

Weeds compete with crops for water, nutrients, sunlight and space. They also harbour insect and disease pests, reduce crop quality and deposit weed seeds in crop harvests.

Farmers fight weeds by tilling, using herbicides or through a combination of these methods. Tilling exposes valuable topsoil to wind and water erosion, and has serious long-term consequences for the environment. Environmentally conscious farmers try to reduce tilling and limit the use of chemical herbicides.

By introducing into a plant a gene that confers tolerance to a specific herbicide, a farmer can apply this herbicide in judicious amounts to control weeds without destroying the crop.

This technology allows the grower to apply herbicide only when the presence of weeds requires it, a practice consistent with the concept of integrated pest management. It may also result in the increased use of environmentally-favourable herbicides and reduce the use of tilling.

Plant disease, including fungal and viral diseases, can devastate both the yield and quality of crop harvests. To minimize the economic loss resulting from plant disease, farmers often plant more than they expect to harvest. This increases the costs of planting and results in wastage of fuel, water and fertiliser. In addition, farmers use chemical insecticides to destroy pests such as aphids that carry viral disease.

Researchers are working to develop crops protected from certain types of plant viruses. By introducing a small part of the DNA from a virus into the genetic makeup of a plant, scientists are developing crops that have in-built immunity to specific viral diseases. This allows reduced dependence on chemical inputs and improves both productivity and crop quality.

• Consistently high-yielding oil palms
• Potatoes and tomatoes with a higher content of solids, making the plants more suitable for food processing.
• Tomatoes, squash and potatoes with higher levels of nutrients such as vitamins A, C and E.
• Corn and soya beans containing higher levels of essential amino acids.
• Potatoes with higher levels of essential amino acids.
• Oil seeds with lower levels of saturated fat.
• Garlic cloves with more allicin, an active ingredient that is being researched for a potential role in helping to lower cholesterol.
• Strawberries with increased levels of natural agents that are being studied for their role in helping to fight cancer.
• Slow-ripening tomatoes, peppers and tropical fruits with better keeping qualities and better flavour.
• Crops that can grow in very low temperatures.
• Animal feed crops with improved levels of proteins.

Biotechnology has played a role in producing a variety of fermented foods that are commonly used in Asian diets. Traditional foods such as soya sauce, tempeh (fermented soya beans), belacan (fermented shrimp paste), cincaluk (fermented shrimps), budu (fermented fish sauce), tapai (fermented rice/ tapioca), dadih (fermented milk), pickles, vinegar, bread, yogurt, and cheese are all products of fermentation. A wide range of additives, processing aids and supplements have also been obtained from microbial sources by fermentation such as vitamins, citric acid, natural colouring, flavourings, gums and enzymes.

Modern biotechnology is increasingly being used in fermentation. Genetically modified strains of microbes and enzymes have been used for several decades to bring about desirable changes in food products and processes.

One of the most promising outcomes of the use of modern biotechnology is the production of a wide variety of food enzymes using microorganisms. With food biotechnology, a greater range of pure and highly specific enzymes can be efficiently produced. These enzymes can be used to make desirable changes to food rapidly and at relatively low temperatures, with subsequent reduction in raw material and fuel requirements.

Food safety is the assurance that a food will not cause harm when it is prepared or eaten according to its intended use. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) of the United Nations advocate the concept of 'substantial equivalence' as the most practical approach to address the safety evaluation of foods or food components derived by modern biotechnology. This approach states that if a new food or food component is found to be substantially equivalent to an existing food or food component, it can be treated in the same manner with respect to safety.

Researchers must prepare comprehensive data to support the safety and wholesomeness of new crop varieties developed through biotechnology. This process requires years of laboratory and field testing before a product can be brought to the market.

Agronomic traits - are usually the starting points for evaluating substantial equivalence. For example, in the case of potatoes, the traits commonly examined are yield, tuber size and distribution, dry matter content and disease resistance.

Nutritional assessment - involves key nutrients including fats, proteins, carbohydrates and essential minerals and vitamins. Critical nutrients to be assessed are determined, in part, by knowledge of the function and expression product of the inserted gene. If, for example, an inserted gene expresses an enzyme that is involved in amino acid biosynthesis, then the amino acid profile would be determined.

Toxicology assessment - toxicants and antinutrients are those compounds known to be inherently present in some crop varieties which could have an impact on health if the levels were increased significantly (for example, solanine glycoalkaloids in potatoes or trypsin inhibitors in soybeans). The levels of antinutrients in genetically modified crops are compared to conventional varieties grown under comparable environmental and agronomic conditions.

Safety assessment - when a genetically modified food crop has been shown to be substantially equivalent to a conventional crop, the safety assessment focuses on the introduced trait and the protein expression product of the cloned gene. The biological function specificity and mode of action of the protein determine the key assessment undertaken.

If the protein is an enzyme, its potential effects on metabolic pathways and levels of endogenous metabolites are assessed. The amino acid sequence of the protein is compared to known sequences to determine if the protein has a sequence found in food proteins, toxins or allergens. The inherent digestibility of the protein with simulated gastric and intestinal protease preparations is assessed and the level of expression of the protein in the food is determined. This assessment may be made on the appropriate raw agricultural product or a specific processed food component (such as oil). Specific criteria have been developed to establish if the introduced protein is "as-safe-as" proteins already present in foods.

Additional testing may be undertaken on a case-by-case assessment. Toxicological and nutritional endpoints can be evaluated in rat feeding studies to determine a "no-effect level" for antinutrient effects and compared to potential human exposures to determine if an adequate safety margin exists.

• the transfer of any known allergens is avoided.
• an assumption is made that genes from allergenic sources will encode an allergen unless proven otherwise.
• all introduced proteins are assessed for allergenicity.

Plant breeders and farmers over the ages have selected plants that will either tolerate pests or be completely immune to them. This tolerance or immunity is conferred by the presence of genes that control the expression of certain cellular phenomenon, such as the production of substances which are toxic to the insects, fungi, bacteria or viruses concerned. Many of the modern agricultural crop varieties grown by farmers worldwide contain genes which confer resistance to pests. The other way farmers control pests is by spraying chemicals on crops.

Among the most common applications of biotechnology are plants that have been improved for their resistance to pest infestations and injury by plant disease. Examples include "B.t. crops" (which prevent many stem-boring insects from killing plants), and virus-protected crops. This resistance helps avoid or reduce the need for insecticides.

Natural evolution in pest populations means that some pests will eventually emerge that are able to tolerate either the herbicides or pesticides applied by farmers or, in the case of genetically modified crops, the in-built resistance in the crop.

Most strategies for delaying a pest's ability to develop resistance have relied on reduced selection pressure on the pests to evolve. The most common method used by farmers planting genetically modified crops is to have a certain proportion of their farms planted to non-genetically modified crops so that not all insect pests are killed. "Pyramiding" of several genes into the same crop variety is another method because pests have greater difficulty evolving to overcome this more complex form of resistance. Monitoring programs are another important component of resistance management strategies.

Even under the best of conditions, food production exerts pressure on the environment. Erosion claims valuable topsoil, farm chemicals sometimes pollute ground water and streams, livestock deplete grazing land and forests are denuded to provide for more arable land.

Sustainable farming techniques, such as crop rotation, cultivation and the use of high yielding crop varieties, attempt to make the most efficient use of existing resources. These techniques are vital to maximize food production. Such practices promote the natural recycling of renewable organic material to protect the environment, conserve resources and assure food safety whilst ensuring that the farmer is able to make a living.

Biotechnology has the potential to be used as part of such farming practices. For example, agricultural biotechnology has allowed farmers to achieve the same or even higher yields from their crops using less land, water, fertilisers, chemical pesticides and herbicides.

Breeders are also looking at ways to develop crop plants that can fix their own nitrogen. In the future, such plants may allow farmers to reduce the use of synthetic fertiliser resulting in degradation of soil and ground water. This may also enhance productivity in countries where farmers cannot afford nitrogen fertilisers.

Modern biotechnology may also be useful in other areas:

Forestry - Genetic modification may help to replenish forests plundered by poor agricultural practices. New techniques have resulted in shorter breeding cycles and have increased the yield of trees like rubber, cocoa, teak and pulpwood. In addition, biotechnology has helped in forest conservation by protecting trees from disease, improving and increasing yields. It has also helped to identify genes responsible for medicinal compounds found in plants, animals and trees and facilitated the use of microbes for mass production of these useful compounds by fermentation.

Plant biodiversity - Genetic modification may help to protect plants threatened by extinction and increase the use of plant diversity by identifying genes of interest and then moving the useful genes into other plants and crops. This will expand the genetic variation in staple crops by breeding desirable traits into them. The use of biotechnology to improve agricultural productivity will reduce the need to clear wilderness areas for cultivation, thereby reducing pressure on endangered species.

Consumers increasingly demand accurate and helpful information about the food they buy. Making this information available helps ensure consumer confidence in the quality and safety of food.

Food safety is of paramount importance to producers, consumers, governments and regulators. Once food safety and quality have been established, the task of providing useful and accurate information to consumers must be addressed.

In countries such as the United States and Canada, where labeling of foods is legally required to convey information related to health and safety, substantially equivalent crops and foods created with biotechnology do not require labeling because, by definition, these foods do not pose any new health or safety concerns. In other words, the U.S. and Canada require labeling based only on an assessment of the health, safety and nutrition of the final product. The U.S. and Canada agree with scientists from the WHO, FAO and OECD, that the use of biotechnology does not by itself pose a health, safety or nutritional concern

There is general agreement that if the use of biotechnology results in a new plant or food which is no longer substantially equivalent to the original plant or food, labeling should be required to alert consumers to these changes. The change could be either positive, as in the case of increased vitamin content, or negative, as in the case of an allergen that has been introduced.

The most contentious debate around the world is whether plants and foods altered by biotechnology in ways which do not result in any changes in safety or nutritional value, should be labeled. That is, if a crop such as corn has been changed so that it now makes a single new protein which resists certain insects and the presence of that protein has no effect on the safety and nutrition of corn, is there a need for that corn or products derived from it, to be labeled?

Two underlying principles need to be recognised in all discussions of labeling. The first is that markets need to remain open to foods and feeds which have met national and international safety standards regardless of whether or not biotechnology was included in the process. The second is that for most commodity crops, segregation of supply streams will be expensive and costs will inevitably be borne by consumers.

In Europe, the European Union has enacted laws which require labeling of all crops and food products resulting from the use of biotechnology, regardless of whether they are substantially equivalent or not. This approach is justified not as a health and safety concern but rather as a way to meet the consumers' right to know whether or not they are buying a product of biotechnology.

Numerous technical issues have complicated the EU effort to create a labeling system based on whether or not biotechnology was used to create a crop plant or a food derived from that crop plant. For example, should labeling be based on the presence of the modified DNA, the protein it creates, or both? This question is further complicated by the state of analytical technologies available for DNA and protein. Detection techniques for proteins can be very accurate in identifying both the presence and level of a specific protein in a given sample. In many cases, protein analyses can be undertaken using simple test kits. Testing for DNA is more complicated and expensive. While analytical techniques can detect extremely small amounts of DNA, they can also generate false positive results and are usually not capable of determining how much DNA is in a given sample.

In Japan, labeling is required even for substantially equivalent products created with biotechnology. However, no testing of protein or DNA is required. Processed fractions which are not expected to contain DNA or protein are listed and foods which contain those listed fractions, such as seed oils and alcoholic beverages, do not require labeling. For foods which contain crops or fractions which would require labeling, the manufacturer can label them as, for example, "soybean (genetically modified not segregated)". The food processor is not required to test to make sure whether or not modified DNA or protein is actually in the ingredient but merely needs to state that no attempt was made to segregate and supply non-genetically modified ingredients. Under the Japanese system, only ingredients which are one of the top three ingredients in food or which are present at more than five percent by weight are considered for labeling purposes. Manufacturers are able to state on the label that the genetically modified ingredient has been approved by the government.

Another alternative which has been discussed in some countries is a proposal to allow labeling of "genetically modified organism free" foods on a voluntary basis provided the claim can be proven and provided that no misleading claims of health and safety benefits are made.