Luo Yunbo emphasized that if genetically modified foods can pass safety assessments, there will be no problem. Photo by Sun Chunxia
GM crops have clear benefits. The picture shows the comparison between transgenic rice and non-transgenic rice. The former has obvious advantages in pest resistance.
At the recently held “Genetic Crops Symposium†in Beijing, the reporter interviewed Prof. Luo Yunbo, Dean of the College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering at China Agricultural University, on the recent issue of food safety and genetically modified foods.
Prof. Luo looked ruddy, full of energy, and looked very healthy, giving people a minimum sense of trust in the "Food and Nutrition" Dean. Although he was in a sensitive administrative position, Prof. Luo still took the humility and candour of a tech worker and answered many sharp questions.
1
Food safety issues have been exaggerated
Beijing News: As an expert, isn't it different from ordinary people when you usually buy something? Go to the supermarket to buy things, is not the mind flashes out the ingredients of those additives?
Luo Yunbo: No, no. I think the people’s estimation of the food safety situation in China is too serious. Overall, China's food safety situation is not as bad as it might have been. Moreover, the food safety situation in these years is still improving. Additives are actually an integral part of the food industry. Without additives there is no food industry. I think the main reason for ensuring food safety is to have the correct attitude and correct understanding. Food can't say which one you like to eat forever. You need a variety of food combinations. If you stare to eat a food, it is likely to eat something wrong.
In addition, it is true that some foods may carry some harmful ingredients, but people also have the ability to detoxify. If you detoxify more quickly than you accumulate, it is safe for you. We say that some insects, pesticides are not dead, that is, it has adapted to this poison. So you can not eclipse.
Beijing News: But because insects are natural choices, they will die if they don't resist drugs, and they will survive to resist drugs. But can't people who don't fight poison be dead?
Luo Yunbo: The human body can naturally produce resistance and immunity. There are many microbes in our digestive tract. They can help us deal with these poisons.
Beijing News: Those microbes themselves have a natural selection process?
Luo Yunbo: This is the case. It also has a process of adaptation. In the developed countries, air, water, and soil contain less toxins and pathogenic microorganisms, so their people do not adapt to our country. They have to pass the “diarrhea.†After the stomach is pulled, all kinds of digestive tracts are left behind. The flora is balanced and it will be fine later. I don't mean to say that because we don’t pay attention to food safety, we should pay attention, but we don’t need to panic.
Beijing News: Do you think that there is something wrong with food safety?
Luo Yunbo: This issue is very complicated. One is the issue of the regulatory system, the other is the issue of responsibility, and the issue of laws and regulations. Some of these problems can now be solved, and some are due to the stage of social development and cannot be solved in one-and-a-half times. What is needed now is nothing more than effective regulations, strict supervision, honest production, and mature consumption. This will make a big difference in our food safety environment.
Beijing News: What role should scientific research institutions play in this area?
Luo Yunbo: We have played a supporting role in food safety, such as providing support on a technical level and giving scientific assessments of whether or not food has problems, so that ordinary people can also know. We must formulate some standards to determine whether the existing standards are scientific, so as to play a role in monitoring food safety. There are also food production technologies such as green agricultural technologies. Then there is the technology to provide detection.
Beijing News: For the melamine incident, it is certain that there is a stage where people do not know that melamine has been added to foods. It is certainly not possible to establish testing standards. So, should testing be predictable or is there another way to detect it?
Luo Yunbo: We need to do risk assessment to predict the possible hazards. Of course, if there is no basis, it is not good to predict. For example, in the case of melamine, when melamine was added to animal feed in the United States in 2007, we should be aware that any food that uses protein detection as a quality standard may be mixed with melamine. If we have corresponding measures, then It can avoid future vicious events.
Beijing News: At that time there was no risk assessment system?
Luo Yunbo: It is true that we are now building this system. This has already been written in the "Food Safety Law."
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