Transcript Document

the future of Food & Biotech

Jan Willem van der Kamp

TNO Nutrition and Food Research, Zeist, Netherlands 1

Contents

Introduction

Food and Nutrition – main trends

The role of Biotechnology

Gene technology and transgenic crops

Impact of the genomics revolution

Final remarks 2

TNO – the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research

• • • • • •

> 5000 staff, 14 institutes Market-driven Objective and independent Contract research organisation International in scope (offices in Japan; USA: Detroit, Boston) Broad knowledge and technology base Apply technological knowledge to strengthen the innovative power of industry and government 3

The five core areas in which TNO is active

Quality of Life Defence and Public Safety Natural and Built Environment Advanced Products, Processes and Systems ICT and Services

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TNO Nutrition and Food Research - Profile

Product & Process Innovation Agro Food Quality and Safety Health in relation to Nutrition Pharma Chemistry 5

TNO Nutrition and Food Research Market Drivers

Food and Health

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functional food / novel food issues Quality and Safety

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consumer safety issues Product en Process Innovation - food- and biotechnology issues 6

The Future of Food - main trends

Convenience

Food, Health & Wellness

Taste and New Experiences Conditions to be fulfilled

Food safety

Sustainability 7

Convenience

Meal preparation – acceptable duration 30 min (1980) → 15 min.

→ 8 min. (USA) growth of ready prepared meals/ ingredients Albert Heyn 1996 → 2006 30% → 65% .

New food supply channels growth of food service decreasing role of ‘classical’ supermarket

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New food production – consumption chains New food technologies for composite non-homogeneous products and mild preservation 8

Novel mild preservation technologies for convenience foods

Ultra High Pressure High Intensity Light Pulsed Electric Fields 9

TNO Barrier Model system for bake stable coatings Selection ingredients based on theoretical TNO Model Development of barriers and coatings Application examples Direct application on TNO application model products 10

Food Health and Wellness

Rapid growth of food related health problems OBESITY, type-2 diabetes

Relation food intake → health: more insights role of total diet and of specific ingredients

Insights and Confusion (“New” hype in USA: “low carb” diets 11

Food & Health – history and trends

1900 – detection/ prevention of deficiencies e.g. vitamin A, Iron

1970 – balanced diet supply of sufficient nutrients (carbohydrates , fats, proteins, minerals, vitamins Nutritional recommnedations “Schijf van 5”

1990 - benefits of specific functional foods “beyond the balanced diet”– role of non-nutrients Growth of Functional Foods market Growing soft benefits/ wellness market (e.g. ‘Organic’) 12

The GM Crop story

1995/6: introduction of GM soy

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2003: 4 GM food crops: soy, maize, rapeseed, cotton produced in USA, Canada, Argentine, China start in Brazil, India steadily growing market share

Delays in introduction of new GM crops (wheat, rice) for economic reasons

Limited perspectives for new GM crops Unless there will be a major need 13

GM food crops for Europe

no perspectives < 5 years

No convincing demonstration of benefits

No direct need for food producers minor benefits vs. major risks for food producers

Significant contribution of president Bush in reducing acceptance among Europeans

“why does he want that we have to eat his crops?”

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Food industry - actions after implementation EU GM labelling regulation

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Avoidance of any GM labelling Reformulation of thousands of food products and ingredient mixes, focussing ..on removal and replacement of soy flour ..and protein

Demand for purified soy lecithin and for non-GM soy flour 15

European GM LABELLING "WORST CASE" EXAMPLE

impact of the requirement for labelling when > 1% of a component in a product is GM

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Onion oil "standardised" with 20% vegetable oil Vegetable oil may contain soya, maize, rape, cotton …may or may not be GM crop-derived Standardised oil dispersed at 0.1% on salt 3% in seasoning ... 2.5% seasoning in sausage Sausages in "Mixed Grill" at 15% labelling required for

2 parts Vegetable Oil in 100 million parts of meal

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Food industry: NO GM LABELLING

All EU food companies avoid GM labelling.

®

Consumers can only choose non GM

Consumer and Biotechnology Foundation, 18 May 1999 9

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GM food crops in Europe missed opportunities and benefits

Significant environmental/ farmer benefits soil management; CO2 reduction; farm economics

Negligable safety risks

content of GM material in GM seeds < 0.1%

no indications of safety risks of these materials

Major shift of advanced plant (biotech) research: from Europe to USA and China 18

GM crops and foods long term perspectives

‘Shift-at-once’ to large scale labelling, due to ..major supply problems of non-GM materials

The “ALDI scenario” GM products entering the low cost end of the market

Shift in consumer attitudes, due to perceived benefits of (new) GM crops

Quality? Sustainability? Feeding the world?

Products with high quality or specific health benefits No need for GM – many other options 19

Genomics technologies: a Revolution! Unlimited measurements / analysis

Classical Biology

Question

HYPOTHESIS

Focused Experiment

Contemporary Biology

Question

Applied Genomics Experiment Bioinformatics HYPOTHESIS

Focused Experiment

Thousands of measurements (of DNA/RNA, proteins or other compounds simultaneously) 20

Applied Genomics technologies

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Non-targeted, holistic technologies (replacing the classical deterministic approach) (High throughput) Compare the complete set of a specific biomolecule/ parameters under different environmental conditions Generate vast amounts of data that are analysed and interpreted by computerised algorithms (bioinformatics) 21

The new era in nutrition science is called “nutrigenomics”. It is believed that nutrigenomics will revolutionize wellness and disease management.

Food and pharma companies worldwide have recognized the commercial opportunities and have embarked on substantial nutrigenomics efforts.

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The food industry is growing towards develop ment of a third generation of functional foods 1st generation

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supplements

vitamin supplements calcium enrichment fibers • Components with established efficacy • Research based on epidemiology 2nd generation

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whole foods

broccoli yoghurts green tea

Whole grain products 3rd generation

enhanced foods

• novel ingredients?

• novel products?

• ??

• Research based on safety and efficacy assessment: ‘discovery’ of positive effects of food compounds • • Active component(s) may not have been identified or the efficacy confirmed • Newly developed functional ingredients / foods based on mechanistically proven efficacy Research based on ‘pharma’ type of screening: effect targeted development, lead optimization, bioavailability 23

Traditionally, the discovery of novel bioactives in nutrition is a top-down process Whole organisms Empirical leads Low throughput screening Symptoms: heart disease, elevated cholesterol, atherosclerosis Mechanism is a “black box”

soluble fiber cholesterol level plant sterols statins

body

 -3 fatty acids

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Health effects of food compounds mostly are related to specific interactions on molecular level

DNA gene regulation, SNP’s transcriptional control, histone interaction

RNA

translational control, processing, stability, transport of mRNA

sequencing, genotyping transcriptomics (“genomics”)

Food compound

protein

receptor interaction gene control, signal transduction, enzyme regulation inhibition, modification transport regulation channel or pump interaction

proteomics metabolomics metabolite

multitude of functions

Functional genomics 25

the new multi-analysis technologies – example Microarray DNA chips for >> 1000 DNA species 26

Selected examples of ongoing projects in Nutrigenomics at TNO:

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Functional Food ingredients Against Colorectal Cancer A genomics approach towards gut health. The effects of pro-biotics on mammalian gut health.

Search for biomarkers indicating satiety (part of obesity program) Benefit-risk evaluation of flavonoids in foods and their use as functional food ingredients. Functional genomics-based biomarker development for efficacy and safety Metabolome analysis of a fungus for the identification of enzyme inducing and non-inducing growth conditions Metabolomics of a bacterium for the production of a metabolite and a dairy product Transcriptomics on the quality of malting -Barley (cDNA arrays) Metabolomics of health components of Ginkgo and Cannabis 27

Screening for new functional food bioactives in vitro Quality and authenticity of foods Safety testing Efficacy testing

Nutri genomics

Biomarker development Human Genotyping Food processing Production of food ingredients 28

Food and Biotech – impact of genomic and related ‘multi’- technologies

New (combinations of) ingredients and products with beneficial health effects

both for reduced health risks and for wellness (e.g. post prandial wellness)

Food good food for you

(individual diagnosis)

Production of new ingredients in non-GM micro-organisms

New systems for rapid safety assessment 29

Conclusions

The food supply chain - major changes ahead * mega shift to convenience and food service

Major role of ‘omics technologies’ * food and health – mass individualisation * getting the most out of non-GM biotechnology * tool for food safety related measurements

Role of ‘GM biotechnology’ * short term; as a research tool * GM food crops in Europe: >> 5 years, unless unexpected developments take place 30