Transgenen: thee, rijst en zoete aardappelen zitten er vol mee. Al eeuwen lang injecteert de bacterie Rhizobium rhizogenes zijn eigen genen in de wortels van planten. Wetenschappers van de universiteit van Copenhagen ontdekten onlangs dat deze natuurlijke vorm van genetische modificatie leidt tot een hogere droogteresistentie en onderzoeken nu of ze met de bacterie ook andere gewassen beter bestand kunnen maken tegen droogte. Omdat de bacterie zijn eigen genen injecteert, valt deze methode buiten de strenge Europese GGO-wetgeving.

NO-GMO 

De natuur is de grootste bron van genetische modificatie, daar is de wetenschap het roerend over eens. Omdat Rhizobium rhizogenes zijn eigen genen injecteert in het DNA van planten, telt deze vorm van transgenese als een natuurlijk proces. Daarmee valt dit proces ook buiten de strenge Europese GGO-wetgeving en kunnen veredelaars er vrij mee aan de slag – gelukkig maar! 

Tegelijkertijd is het krom dat nauwkeurigere methoden van genetische modificatie en zelfs gene editing wel onder zulke strenge wetgeving vallen dat we er in Europa niet de vruchten van kunnen plukken. Het verschil zit er in dat de bacterie zijn eigen genen injecteert. Wanneer je bacteriën, of hun ingenieuze mechanismen, gebruikt om genen van andere planten of micro-organismen in te brengen, dan is het wel een genetisch gemodificeerd organisme (GGO). Zelfs kleine aanpassingen in het gen van de desbetreffende plant zelf verkregen met nieuwe veredelingsmethoden (NGTs) worden in Europa bestempeld als GGO, waardoor deze gewassen worden geweerd. 

Wetsvoorstel verwacht in juli 

De Europese Commissie concludeerde zelf in 2021 dat de huidige Europese GGO-wetgeving gedateerd en niet meer fit-for-purpose is, waarop zij een traject startte om de wetgeving aan te passen. Volgens uitgelekte documenten neigt de Commissie naar een deregulatie van NGTs wanneer de veredelde gewassen in theorie ook via klassieke veredeling of in de natuur tot stand hadden kunnen komen. Volgende maand wordt het definitieve wetsvoorstel verwacht, waarna de Europese Raad en het Europees Parlement hun input op het voorstel moeten leveren.  

HollandBIO blijft gedurende het proces pleiten voor een paradigmashift. Één waarin een product op zijn merites beoordeeld wordt, in plaats van te worden gediscrimineerd op basis van de technologie die gebruikt is om het te maken. 

With Europe in the midst of severe drought and food security at risk again, it is clear that a more resilient and sustainable food production system is needed. Precision Fermentation is a key technology to enable this. Leading precision fermentation players have come together to establish a new alliance, Food Fermentation Europe (FFE). FFE will work towards a forward looking regulatory environment that can help bring more sustainable animal-free foods and ingredients to the European market and enable a resilient and sustainable food system in Europe. Better Dairy, Formo, Imagindairy, Onego Bio and Those Vegan Cowboys have joined forces to establish Food Fermentation Europe.

Precision Fermentation as key to a sustainable food framework

FFE’s founding members use the centuries-old technique of fermentation, evolved to a high-tech form called precision fermentation, to produce specific animal-free products such as proteins or fats leading to high quality alternatives for milk, eggs, cheese and other products. The technology, already used for decades in enzyme and additive production, can deliver a major positive impact on emissions, biodiversity and water use. Our food production technologies – all developed in Europe – can help to mitigate the climate crisis Europe is witnessing.

Opportunity for Europe to step up on sustainable food innovation
This alliance forms at a time when:

• The EU is looking to develop a new Sustainable Food Systems Framework for how we produce and consume food in Europe.
• Demand for tasty and nutritious animal-free, sustainable foods options is rising rapidly among people.
• Despite this, the policy objectives of the Green New Deal and the regulatory process for Novel Foods (which includes food made via precision fermentation) are not aligned.
• The current regulatory processes are far too lengthy and opaque and changes are urgently needed to facilitate market access.

It’s clear that the EU needs to enable innovative solutions to come to market sooner rather than later, or risks falling behind in the global race on sustainable food innovation.

Towards a new blend of the EU food system

Food Fermentation Europe’s vision is a new blend within the EU’s food system, which combines sustainable tradition and technology. FFE looks forward to working with policymakers and stakeholders to create the right market and regulatory conditions to embrace fermentation as one of the most sustainable pathways for the agri-food sector, secure the EU’s competitiveness in food innovation and create a sustainable food framework which is aligned with the Green New Deal.

Christian Poppe, Spokesperson for Food Fermentation Europe and Director Global Public Affairs at Formo: “This is a critical time for the EU’s agri-food sector. Not only do we need to become more sustainable, but we also need to ensure that new innovations can break through and come to market to make sure the EU remains competitive globally. Food fermentation products can meet both of these challenges by providing great new animal-free products for people, with drastically less environmental footprint than their alternatives. Now is the right time for our Alliance and we are committed to working with EU decision makers and stakeholders to identify the policies needed to facilitate the food system transition.”

Whats next:

Food Fermentation Europe will hold its launch event this summer in Brussels. Other companies across the fermentation sector are encouraged to reach out to the alliance. To keep track of all developments, visit the website: www.foodfermentation.eu.

Annogen starts a collaboration with another leading agricultural multinational to research non-coding regulatory DNA using SuRE™ screening technology.     

Annogen, the Amsterdam based biotech company behind the SuRE™ technology for the functional annotation of the non-coding part of the genome, started a collaboration with another top agricultural science and technology company to test non-coding DNA fragments that are predicted to influence the expression of important crop traits. The project will focus on genome-wide regulatory profiles under normal and stimulatory conditions. The results are expected to provide possibilities to intentionally upregulate or downregulate the expression of important genes in crops.
 
Agricultural biotech companies are constantly working on ways to up- or down regulate gene expression to influence traits of crops. Annogen’s services and technology contribute to these efforts by identifying the non-coding elements in the genome that underlie gene expression and repression as well as by performing mutagenesis screens on these elements to analyze the impact of non-coding mutations on gene expression.              

While Annogen has its primary focus on medical applications like cell therapy and drug discovery, it has also established the applicability of its SuRE™ technology in animals and plants. Joris van Arensbergen, founder and CEO, is pleased with another project in this field: “We now work with all the top tier agricultural firms, clearly illustrating the broad interest in harnessing the regulatory genome for crop improvement.”