Legislation

The legislation relating to the use of genetically modified micro-organisms is complex. There are also differences between the laws in Europe and the United States and on some points there are differences of interpretation between one European country and another.

In some countries, only heterologous recombination falls under the laws governing GMOs, while homologous recombination is regarded as a more modern form of traditional strain improvement.

In Europe the law covers both the safety of the end product and the use of genetic modification as a production technique. In the United States the main concern is the safety of the end product. One exception relates to products which are labelled 'organic'. No genetically modified micro-organisms may be used in the preparation of these products in either Europe or the US.

This complexity is reflected in pending European legislation on the labelling of foodstuffs.

In homologous recombination, micro-organisms are given the properties of related organisms. In other words, the technique respects species boundaries. By contrast, heterologous recombination involves transferring properties from unrelated organisms.

DSM uses heterologous recombination in the production of chymosin. Chymosin is an enzyme that occurs naturally in the abomasum of calves and it is used as a milk clotting agent in cheese-making. DSM has succeeded in transferring the properties of this enzyme to a yeast cell. The result is that chymosin no longer has to be harvested from the stomachs of calves; it can be made in a factory, which leads to more consistent quality and security of supply.