First monitoring for unauthorized genetically modified bacteria in food enzymes from the food market

Abstract

Recently, several methods were developed to detect genetically modified (GM) bacteria, allowing to screen for the potential presence of bacteria and to prove bacterial GM contaminations in fermentation products (such as FE). To obtain a first overview of the possible contamination of FE with GM bacteria, a general workflow was proposed, combining recently developed detection methods. Those methods include a 16S screening and viability assessment to target bacterial contaminations, as well as a first line and second line qPCR screening targeting bacterial GMM in FE preparations. Subsequently, the proposed workflow was applied on a total of 51 representative FE preparations that were collected from the EU market. On this basis, several FE contaminated with a bacterial GM strain, including the presence of full-length AMR genes, could be identified. In addition, the presence of two specific GMM (both viable and associated recombinant DNA) could be confirmed in multiple FE as well as the presence of viable GMM. On this basis, numerous bacterial contaminations, including GMM carrying full-length antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes, were detected and confirmed. The generated results during this study have highlighted the importance to control such FE preparations for the potential contamination with their bacterial producer organism, including GMM. • FE preparations are often produced by GMM. • Analysis of commercial EU FE preparations to obtain a first picture of GMM presence. • The presence of numerous unauthorized GMM, carrying AMR genes, was demonstrated.