For years, the Philippines is one of the countries around the globe striving in food production and resolving food security issues considering the increasing malnutrition prevalence. The Department of Agriculture, as one of the LGUs implementing body to monitor the food production of the country, provided solutions to eradicate concerns in food production through the genetically modified organism in which they duplicate and modified the genome to make plants more resistant to diseases as they grow and produce more. This process is also applied in livestock such of chicken and pork.
Genetically modified foods are raising concerns from the consumer regarding the quality and safety of the product. According to WHO that all genetically produced GM products in the market are safe and have passed the safety assessment requirements (as traditional food) giving no harm to human health. Department of Agriculture Order No.8 s. 2002 states the “Rules and Regulations on the Importation and Release of Plant and Plant Products Derived from Modern biotechnology”, a set of safety precaution before approving the plant for production participated by Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standard (BAFS) and Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) together with the Scientific and Technical Review Panel consisting of scientists outside the DA who will do the risk assessment based on the CODEX Guideline for the conduct of food safety assessment of food derived from the use recombinant DNA.
At the consumer’s end, almost all produced foods are directly and indirectly genetically modified to meet the demands of the consumers. All GM plant-based foods released and disseminated in the market are being approved by the LGUs who are designated to monitor the production. The bottom line is that it is in the consumer’s discretion to choose whichever they prefer the most, the organic-based and/or GM foods.
NO II Joanna Marie E. Baltazar, RND
References:
WHO (2014). Food, genetically modified. Retrieved October 6, 2021, from the World Health Organization website: https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/food-genetically-modified [Last updated: May 1, 2014]
FAO (2003). Regulating GMOs in developing and transition countries. Retrieved October 6, 2021, from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations website: http://www.fao.org/biotech/C9doc.htm [Last updated: June 1, 2003]
FDA (2020). GMO crops, animal food and beyond. Retrieved October 6, 2021, from the FDA website: https://www.fda.gov/food/agricultural-biotechnology/gmo-crops-animal-food-and-beyond [Last updated: September 28, 2020]
Department of Agriculture. GM Food Safety: Philippine Regulations and Food Safety Assessment. Retrieved October 6, 2021, from the Department of Agriculture website: http://biotech.da.gov.ph
