Social and ethical considerations

regarding genetically engineered foods

¥ The new technologies usually called ‘genetic
engineering’ or ‘genetic modification’ (GM)
promise to revolutionize medicine, animal
husbandry and agriculture. An optimistic view is
that GM plants and foodstuffs will make a great,
possibly indispensable, contribution to reducing
mass hunger. Yet the development of GM crops has
recently caused widespread unease in the United
Kingdom (UK) and other European countries. The
unease comes in diverse forms and in varying
degrees of intensity. It is also based on a wide range
of ethical beliefs. So it is worth setting out the
perspective from which this report is written.
1. Transgenic technology has caused some
people to raise questions about the nature and
consequences of GMOs.
 Do GM foods differ in any relevant ways from
non-GM foods?
 Are any differences significant as to how they
will affect human health or the environment?
 How strictly are GMOs being tested?
 Who oversees the regulation and registration
process?
2. The issue is whether GMOs/GM foods
morally/ethically acceptable.

If they are ethically acceptable, then there is

nothing wrong about produce/using/consuming
them.

If they are not acceptable, people should stop

producing them.
3. Why the deeper ethical-philosophical
reasons underlying the GMO debates are so
important.
If we are to resolve ethical (as opposed to
scientific) controversies associated with
GMOs/GM foods, a key step is to
acknowledge differences in basic values, and
then debate the matter in terms of these deeper
commitments and concerns.
 Need to:-
1. Risk Assessment
 Maintain a safe, nutritious, and plentiful food
supply
 Preserve ecosystems
 Balance production and wise stewardship of the
earth
2. Regulation (Risk Management)

 Demand scientific and political vigilance

 Support: regulatory oversight on case-by-case

basis

 Do not support: a ban on all GMOs or GM

crops
 3. Communication
 Increase public understanding of the science
behind GMOs debate
 Develop tools for public communication and
promoting the public understanding of this and
related issues
 Not just one-way communication but should
encourage dialogue between all participants
 Two-way flow of understanding between
scientists and the public is also required
 Make sure all stakeholder voice are heard
 FERMENTATION
 It is the process of deriving energy from the
oxidation of organic compounds, such as
carbohydrates, using an endogenous electron
acceptor, which is usually an organic compound.
Industrial Biotechnology:-
♥ The process by which large quantities of cells are
grown under aerobic or anaerobic conditions.
♥ The industrial microorganisms are grown under
controlled conditions with an aim of optimizing
the growth of the organism for production of a
target microbial product.
Fermentation Basics
♥ The product can either be:
1. The cell it self: referred to as biomass
production.
2. microorganisms own metabolite: referred to as
a product from a natural strain.
3. A microorganisms foreign product: referred to
as a product from recombinant DNA technology
or genetically engineered strain, i.e.
recombinant strain.
Most fermentation, require a number of steps:
1. Sterilization of fermentation vessel and
associated equipment.
2. Preparation and sterilization of the culture
medium.
3. Preparation of a pure cell culture.
4. Inoculation of the medium in the fermentation
vessel.
5. Cell growth and synthesis of the desired product
(fermentation) under a specific set of conditions.
6. Products extraction and purification or cell
collection.
7. Disposal of extended medium and cells, and the
cleaning of bioreactor and equipment.
 Factors Influencing Fermentation
 Temperature
 pH
 Nature and composition of medium
 Dissolved oxygen
 Dissolved carbon dioxide
 Operation system (batch, fed-batch,
continuous)
 Feeding with precursors
 Mixing and shear rates in fermenter
 Stages in Fermentation process
♥ Basic Steps of Industrial Fermentation
 Any industrial fermentation operation can be broken
down into three main stages
1. Upstream processing
2. The fermentation system
3. Down stream processing.
I. Upstream processing
♥ Includes:
Formulation of the fermentation medium.
Sterilization of:-
 Air
 Fermentation medium and
 Bioreactor
The fermenter, inoculum preparation and Inoculation of
the medium.
♥ A medium which is used for a large scale
fermentation, should have the following
characteristics:
1. It should be cheap and easily available.
2. It should maximize the growth of the
microorganism, productivity and the rate of
formation of the desired product.
3. It should minimize the formation of undesired
products.
♥ Upstream processing normally deals with three
important points.
1. Relates to fermentation media, especially the
selection of suitable cost effective carbon and
energy sources, along with other essential nutrients.
2. Involves aspects associated with the producer
microorganism.
 Initially obtaining a suitable microorganism,
 Industrial strain improvement to enhance
productivity and yield,
 Maintenance of strain purity,
 Preparation of a suitable inoculums and
continuing development of selected strains to
increase the economic efficiency of the process.
3. Is usually performed under rigorously
controlled conditions developed to optimize
the growth of the organism or the production
of a target microbial product.
II. Fermentation systems
The choice of the fermentation mode:-
 is dependent on the relation of consumption of
substrate to biomass and products.
 It involves:-
The propagation of the microorganism and
 Production of the desired product.
It can be categorized depending on
various parameters.
It can be either:-
 Aerobic fermentation or
 Anaerobic fermentation.
 III. Downstream processing
♣ Encompasses all processes following the
fermentation.
 It has the primary aim of efficiently, reproducibly
and safely recovering the target product to the
required specifications (biological activity, purity)
while maximizing recovery yield and minimizing
costs.
 The target product may be recovered by
processing the cells or the spent medium
depending upon whether it is in intracellular or
extracellular product.
 The level of purity that must be achieved is
usually determined by the specific use of the
product.
 Each stage in the overall recovery procedure is
strongly dependent on the protocol of the
preceding fermentation.
 Fermentation factors affecting downstream
processing include the properties of
microorganisms:-
1) Morphology
2) Flocculation characteristics
3) Size and
4) Cell wall rigidity.
These factors have major influences on the filter
ability, sedimentation and homogenization
efficiency.
♣ The typical downstream operations and the unit
operations involved in the processing of
fermentation broth are:
1. Cell disruption (high pressure homogenization,
wet milling, and lysis)
2. Clarification of extract (centrifugation, extraction,
dead end filtration, and cross flow filtration)
3. Enrichment (precipitation, batch adsorption, ultra
filtration, and partition).
4. High resolution techniques (ion exchange,
affinity, hydrophobic, gelfiltration, adsorption
chromatography, and electrophoresis)
5. Concentration (sterile filtration, diafiltration,
ultrafiltration, freeze drying, spray drying, and
precipitation).
♣ Commercially important products of
fermentation
 It can be described in six major groups as follows.
1. Biomass (Baker’s yeast, SCP, Starter cultures,
animal feed, etc.)
2. Primary metabolites (amino acids, organic acids,
vitamins, polysaccharides, ethanol, etc.)
3. Secondary metabolites (antibiotics, etc.)
4. Bioconvertion or biotransformation products
(steroid biotransformation, L-sorbitol etc.)
5. Enzymes ( amylase, lipase, cellulase, etc.)
6. Recombinant products (some vaccines, hormones
such as Insulin and growth hormones etc.)
Some important fermentation products
♣ Disrupting microbial cells
 The procedures must be vigorous enough to break
the microbial cell walls, but gentle enough to ensure
that the protein product is not denatured.
Chemical method
Enzymatic methods
Physical methods
♣ Why downstream/purification?
Reduction in bulk
Concentration enrichment
Removal of specific impurities (e.g., toxins from
therapeutic products)
Prevention of catalysis other than the type desired (for
enzymes)
Recommended product specifications (e.g.,
pharmaceuticals requirement)
Enhancement of protein stability
Reduction of protein degradation (e.g. by
proteolysis)
♣ Modify the upstream processes to aid in
downstream purification
 By:
1) Selection of organisms that do not produce
undesirable pigments or metabolites.
2) Modify the fermentation conditions so that
undesirables are not produced.
3) Precise timing of harvest.
4) pH & temperature control after harvesting.
5) Addition of flocculating agents.
6) Addition of antifoams that do not cause
purification problems.