Assessment of novel foods in animal nutrition.

Composition of feeds from GMO crops were determined as well as digestion and feeding experiments were carried out with broilers (Bt-corn), layers (Bt-Corn, Pat-corn), pigs (Bt-corn, Pat-sugar beet, soybeans), sheep (Bt-corn silage, Pat-corn silage), growing bulls (Bt-corn silage) and fistulated cows (Bt-corn silage). Up to now, no significant differences in nutritional value between feeds from isogenic and transgenic plants of the first generation were observed. The so-called substantial equivalence, but also the nutritional equivalence of transgenic hybrids could be demonstrated. Recombinant plant DNA constructs were not detected in animal tissues samples. In the future, long term feeding experiments for nutritional assessment of novel feeds should be combined with risk assessment studies. Proposal for discussion has been submitted.