The allergic risk of transgenic foods: true or false problem?

Marketing of food products derived from transgenic plants corresponds to a great variety of transgenic proteins with various functionalities. The marked increase in the prevalence of food allergy justifies particular attention in relation to new allergic risks. Evaluation of the allergenic potential of transgenic proteins, when the origin of the gene is a known allergenic plant, is performed on the serum of patients allergic to the plant providing the gene, which could be completed by skin tests and provocation tests. When this potential is absent or unknown, safety parameters are the absence of sequence homology of at least eight contiguous amino acids and rapid loss of immunoimpression antigenicity after digestion in in vitro models and after heating. An addition level of verification concerns the modified plant when it is known to be allergenic, in order to control the absence of modification of the allergenic composition. Some factors, such as the level of nutritional transgenic proteins, or their enzymatic nature could increase the risk of de novo allergenicity. As this risk cannot be predicted, post-marketing surveillance should be considered, which may require the creation of an allergovigilance body.