Bakery processing aid from GM source, FSANZ calls for comment

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) is calling for comment on an application to vary the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code) to allow a new processing aid from a genetically modified (GM) source.

FSANZ CEO Dr Sandra Cuthbert said the application seeks approval to permit the use of Triacylglycerol lipase as a processing aid in the manufacture of bakery products and other cereal-based products.

“FSANZ found no potential public health and safety concerns with the use of this Triacylglycerol lipase from a GM strain of Trichoderma reesei containing a gene from Thermomyces lanuginosus,” Cuthbert said.

“A microbiological assessment concluded that the host organism has a long history of safe use in food and is not pathogenic.”

The enzyme performs its technological purpose during processing of food and meets relevant identity and purity specifications in the Code.

Submissions close at 6 pm (AEDT) on 17 April 2024.

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Image credit: iStock.com/Liudmila Chernetska