What are the opportunities opened up by food biotechnology?
It is now possible to carry out genetic modification on all plant species, including all the world’s major crops. Biotechnology has the potential to improve the efficiency of agriculture and to allow sustainable food production in the 21st century. Its goal of improving on currently available foods is the same as that of the traditional, long-established techniques of crop breeding, animal husbandry and fermentation. The major difference is the ability to cross the natural barriers that limit traditional cross breeding and selection. Resistance is common in nature but not always present in those crops where we want it. Biotechnology now provides the tools to use the natural resistance of one plant in another.
