November 3, 2006

 

Limagrain and GRDC to launch new GM wheat in 5 years
 

 

A GM wheat variety with more resistant starch could hit the market in five years, pointed out Australian scientists who won financial backing to commercialise the crop.

 

The project, a joint venture between French cereals group Limagrain and Australia's Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) would be backed by an investment of US$12.5 million, to be run by the Australian research body CSIRO.

 

The GM wheat, according to CSIRO would contain increased level of amylose (about 25 to 70 percent). Amylose, also called resistant starch, took longer to be digested and therefore released sugars more slowly. This reduced the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

 

Since GM corn was being widely accepted in foods, the health benefit of the new wheat would help to drive its acceptance, felt Dr Bruce Lee, director of the Food Futures team involved with the new project.

 

After testing the wheat on rats, the researchers planned to move into large animal trials. The work would be over within five years, by which time consumers could be ready to accept the ingredient.

 

In the research on another GM product, it was found that consumers were willing to accept those (GM) ingredients particularly if they were fed indirectly, that is through a feed for livestock, and generally if they offered a health benefit too, said Lee.

 

A study by ACNielsen on 1,400 consumers seemed to support this finding. It found that while 54 percent of people said they were not likely to eat GM foods, when the question was asked in terms of the actual GM foods that are available, their responses changed.

 

Forty-eight percent of respondents said they were likely to eat packaged food containing a small amount of a GM ingredient such as GM soy or GM canola, and 48 percent stated they were likely to eat GM cooking oils.

 

A non-GM variety was also being developed by the group. The use of gene technology allowed the researchers to define the genetic changes in wheat required to boost amylose levels, and with this knowledge, the team could breed the wheat using conventional methods.

 

However, the priority would be to introduce the GM variety first considering the health benefits of the product.

 

Incidentally, it could be one of the first GM food crops available with a direct benefit for consumers. It would also result in cost savings for food processors as they no longer would need to add extra fibre to boost the nutritional value of their products.

 

New value-added varieties would provide an opportunity to the Australian grain industry to market differentiated high-value niche grains in both domestic and foreign markets, said Terry Enright, chairman of the GRDC.