DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF A SELECTIVE DETECTION METHOD FOR GENETICALLY-MODIFIED SOY AND SOY-DERIVED PRODUCTS

A method has been developed to distinguish between traditional soy bea ns and transgenic Roundup Ready soy beans, i.e. the glyphosate ('Round up') resistant soy bean variety developed by Monsanto Company. Glyphos ate resistance results from the incorporation of an Agrobacterium-deri ved 5-enol-pyruvyl-shikimate-3-phosphatesynthase (EPSPS) gene. The det ection method developed is based on a nested Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) procedure. Ten femtograms of soy bean DNA can be detected, whil e, starting from whole soy beans, Roundup Ready DNA can be detected at a level of I Roundup Ready soy bean in 5000 non-GM soy beans (0.02% R oundup Ready soy bean). The method has been applied to samples of soy bean, soy-meal pellets and soy bean flour, as well as a number of proc essed complex products such as infant formula based on soy, tofu, temp eh, soy-based desserts, bakery! products and complex meat and meat-rep lacing products. The results obtained are discussed,with respect to pr actical application of the detection method developed.