How Can Biotechnology Help Resolve The World’s Hunger Problem

Food preparation

Since proteins and vitamins are often lost during conventional food preparation, fermentation may provide a method for preserving them. Traditional food processing based on fermentation, such as the techniques used to manufacture gari, a fermented, grainy, and starchy dish produced from cassava, may be improved using biotechnology. Through genetic engineering or food processing, biotechnology may also facilitate the elimination of harmful substances. In addition to removing undesirable components, biotechnology may be utilized to produce affordable additions that enhance the finished product’s nutritional value, flavor, or appearance. The current uses of biotechnology in food processing are far more sophisticated than those in plant genetic engineering. The genetic manipulation of food-processing microorganisms is substantially more straightforward than that of more complicated plants. It is so perplexing that most research focuses on plant genetic engineering, where there are still several challenges to overcome, while the opportunity to enhance food processing is usually ignored.

Technology Trends

Modern biotechnology can play an essential role in sustaining our future food demands. Biotech can increase crop yields, help develop new crops, and adapt existing crops to be cultivated on marginal lands with reduced fresh-water inputs. The technology may improve the nutritional quality of staple foods and diminish the need to cultivate crops on deforested land. Rapid advances in biotechnology reduce the time and cost of developing improved food and feed strains and engineering crops with improved drought and salinity tolerance and nutritional quality. New biotechnology tools enable scientists to introduce biochemical pathways to cells so we can breed plants that are safe and cost-effective sources of these nutrients.

Enzyme production

In enzyme production, the industrial production of enzymes mainly comprises the application of microorganisms. The microorganisms are cultivated in vast containers, after which the chosen enzymes are veiled into the standard in which the microorganism was fermented. The enzymes are concealed as a result of bacteriological activity in metabolites. Enzymes formed with the said process are then removed and undergo distillation steps, and these cleaned enzymes are further used in food processing in the food business and for several other uses. The productivity of enzymes made from microorganisms has risen due to genomic technologies. The use of innovative technologies has augmented the enzymes’ readiness, reduced the manufacturing cost, and upgraded their worth. This has resulted in the gainful effect of growing efficiency and rearrangement methods which service the use of enzymes as a processing aid in the food industry.

Resistant to disease

The state of Hawaii is an excellent illustration of how the development of crops resistant to disease may have a significant influence. Since 1998, the state has been a pioneer in the cultivation of biotech papaya, which is naturally resistant to disease. The potentially lethal papaya ringspot virus inspired the development of this antidote, and this virus was hazardous and posed a threat to the papaya industry. Because of this, biotechnology has helped rescue papaya output, and as a result, the groundwork has been laid for developing other disease-resistant crop varieties.

Golden rice

Scientists have discovered techniques to boost the vitamin A content of rice through genetic engineering. In wild species, rice has genes that make beta-carotene (which the body converts into vitamin A), but these genes are turned off during the growing process. By putting genes into rice, scientists can assure that the plant’s synthesis of vitamin A continues as it matures. Theoretically, Golden Rice seems like the ideal approach to improve nutritional levels in the food supply, but scientists are still encountering difficulties with it. For instance, scientists have discovered that beta carotene strains produce less than non-GMO ones. Furthermore, there is much debate and regulation around genetically modified crops. This is unfortunate, considering rice is safe for human consumption and contains more vitamin A than spinach, according to safety testing..

Is the world better off with genetically engineered food or without it?

According to a recent assessment from the World Resources Institute, GMOs and genetically modified food will play a crucial role in feeding a worldwide population that is projected to exceed 10 billion by 2050. According to the organization, GMOs are one technology that must be included in the answer if we are to produce enough food for a rising population. The paper, co-issued by the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program, and the United Nations Environment Program, identifies numerous possible solutions to this problem, with GMO crops and other genetic engineering methods playing a significant role in several of them. The paper notes that genetic manipulation protected the Hawaiian papaya population from a devastating virus and suggests that it may be able to do the same for the potato, soybean, and tomato populations in Uganda, Brazil, and Florida, respectively.

Wrapping up…

Many of humanity’s issues are reoccurring difficulties that man for generations has confronted. Humanity has been constrained by hunger, sickness, the demand for raw resources, and pollution since ancient times. Nevertheless, throughout history, the emergence of new technology has allowed significant advancements in our quality of life. The biotechnology sector must continue to inform the public, regulators, and other sectors about the sector’s potential. This entails actively establishing regulatory systems for these emerging technologies, encouraging dialogues with all stakeholders, and ensuring that the public is aware of the advantages of the technology.