Revista de ecosistemas y ecografía

Abstracto

Applications of Food Biotechnology

Farkhanda Haroon and Mobeen Ghazanfar

Recently many advances in food industry represent great role of food biotechnology. GM plants and animals are used to enhance taste, shell life, nutrition and quality of food. On the other hand GM yeast and Bacteria are used to produce enzymes for the sake of food industry. These GM foods are produced by using biotechnological techniques specifically genetic engineering. Genetic engineering purpose is to introduce foreign gene of interest in an organism. This foreign gene introduction is for the purpose of enhancement in quality and quantity of food. So these techniques can be used to erase hunger from poor people of third world specially Africa. Besides positive aspects, there are some concerns. We are changing DNA that can be useful, harmful or neutral so it can result in any unexpected results. These results might include health problems. Due to these concerns, some people oppose food biotechnology. Naturalists are also against food biotechnology. According to them, genetic engineering is intervening in nature.