An open-access database, built with European Commission (EC) funding, has been launched to help regulators and food suppliers monitor the impact of using genetically modified (GM) crops in livestock feeding.
The new IPAFeed database is linked to the EC-backed MARLON (Monitoring of Animals for Feed-related Risks in the Long Term) project, and is designed to chart any possible health risks as they relate to animal feed.
The database has three core sections:
- GM feed consumption. This contains about 2000 records of measurements of growth, health and productivity parameters of livestock animals fed with GM-containing feeds made during controlled feeding studies.
- DNA and protein detection. This contains about 900 records of the results from experiments aimed to detect transgenic DNA fragments or newly expressed proteins in livestock tissues and fluids such as blood, kidney, liver, milk, egg, gastrointestinal tract content, etc.
- Health monitoring programmes. These have been collected in the course of the MARLON project.
The Marlon project started on August 1, 2012, when it was scheduled to run for three years. It has 11 project partners from 8 different countries.