Ratas Tumorales

Food Control 16 (2005) 569–578 www.elsevier.com/locate/foodcont

Strategies to assure the absence of GMO in food products application process in a confectionery firm
Antonio Scipioni *, Giovanni Saccarola, Francesca Arena, Schiavon Alberto
` ` Dipartimento di Processi Chimici dell’Ingegneria, Centro Studi Qualita-Ambiente, Universita di Padova, Via Marzolo 9, 35131 Padova, Italy Received 26July 2003; received in revised form 10 June 2004; accepted 14 June 2004

Abstract This article describes the strategies and the instruments applied in the development and implementation of a system aimed at assuring the production of food which is neither made of nor derived from genetically modified raw material in a confectionery firm. It was chosen to develop a specific planning method partiallytaken from HACCP and FMEA techniques, mainly as far as the systematic and rigorous analysis of risks is concerned (in this case, the contamination of raw material and/or their genetically modified derivatives along the food chain). The result is a management system model that food organizations can use to assure the traceability of all ingredients incorporated into their food products and, in thesame time, to guarantee that these ingredients do not contain or consist or derive from genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: GMO; HACCP; FMEA; Traceability; Food chain; PCR analysis

1. Introduction Genetically modified organisms (GMO) have been for some years at the centre of debates involving the political-economic and the scientific world.These discussions are mainly related to the lack of a clear and unique answer from science, regarding the possible and unforeseeable effects that their large scale use and their consequent diffusion into the environment could arouse in human beings (in terms of allergies, intolerances, increased resistance to antibiotics etc.), but also in the environment (reduction of biodiversity, transmission toweeds of the resistance to pesticides, evolution of more resistant parasites) running the risk of modifying the delicate balance underlying our ecosystems and the food chains of our biosphere. Indeed up to now the World

Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 49 827 5539; fax: +39 49 827 5785. E-mail address: cesqa@unipd.it (A. Scipioni). 0956-7135/$ - see front matter Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rightsreserved. doi:10.1016/j.foodcont.2004.06.018

*

Health Organisation says that ‘‘there is not scientific evidence that can shed light on the long term effects of GMOs on agriculture and therefore on food’’. As a consequence, the stance of the political world is floating, from the one side it is influenced by the considerable economic interests around the production of genetically modified organisms andfrom the other by the need to safeguard citizensÕ health and preserve environmental integrity. Being sensitive to guaranteeing the defence of citizensÕ rights and the safeguard of the environment the European institutions have displayed a cautious approach making reference to the ‘‘precautionary principle’’, the right to a proper information for consumers, and the use of risk analysis asfoundation on which food safety policy has to be based. This approach is clearly recognizable into the general principles expressed in the White Paper on Food Safety (Commission of European Community, 2000). In conformity with these principles, particularly in relation to GMOs, the EU has recently outlined a

570

A. Scipioni et al. / Food Control 16 (2005) 569–578

legislation rearrangement. Now,legislation on GMOs is founded on: • Directive 2001/18/EC: itÕs a ‘‘horizontal’’ Directive, which regulates experimental releases and the placing on the market of GMOs. In particular a company intending to market a GMO must first submit an application to the competent national authority of the Member State where the product is to be first placed on the market. The application must include an...