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doi:10.1094/CFW-52-4-0179 |
VIEW ARTICLE Genetic Enhancement of Food Safety Attributes of Durum Wheat J. M. Clarke. Semiarid Prairie Agricultural Research Centre, Swift Current, SK, Canada. Cereal Foods World 52(4):179-181. Consumer interest in food safety has increased dramatically in recent years. This has been spurred by issues such as outbreaks of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, foot-and-mouth disease, and avian influenza in farm animals. Mycotoxins in food crops arising from fungal growth in the field or in storage have long been a concern. Concerns about pesticide residues have fostered steady growth in demand for “organic” food products. These issues have caused a major shift in priorities in publicly funded agriculture and food sciences research in the developed world. Research to address the establishment of appropriate regulations for the control of potential contaminants and the development of production strategies to mitigate them has become a high priority. Genetic enhancement provides a cost-effective means for mitigating some food safety issues in crop plants. For example, genetic resistance to diseases can reduce mycotoxin and, consequently, fungicide residue levels on grain. The cultivar development strategy for durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. var durum) in Canada emphasizes genetic resistance to insects and diseases to meet the strict requirements of registration of cultivars, so application of fungicides and insecticides is rare. New biotechnology tools are accelerating progress in breeding for disease resistance utilizing natural genetic variation within wheat or its close relatives. DNA markers have proved to be very useful tools to accelerate selection for desirable genes. As genes for factors such as disease resistance are identified, there will be more opportunities for the use of genetic transformation. However, the use of transformation in development of wheat cultivars is restricted by the lack of consumer acceptance of genetically modified organisms in foods.
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