A survey on genetically modified maize in foods commercialised in Portugal

Maize, the second most important genetically modified (GM) crop, has the highest number of authorised GM events for food and feed in the EU. To provide consumer’s information, labelling for food products containing more than 0.9% of GM material is demanded by the actual EU legislation. Analysis of foods is then essential to detect and quantify GM maize material and verify the compliance with labelling information. The aim of the present work was to assess the presence of GM maize in a range of processed foods commercialised in Portugal between 2007 and 2010. For this purpose, screening of GM material was carried out by qualitative PCR targeting the 35S promoter and the NOS terminator, followed by the specific detection of Bt11, MON810, Bt176, GA21, MON863, NK603, TC1507 (also known as DAS1507), DAS59122 and MIR604 events. The identified maize events were confirmed and quantified by real-time PCR with hydrolysis probes. The overall results of GMO screening were 30% for 35S promoter, 10% for NOS terminator and 25% for identified events. The most frequently detected events were MON810, TC1507 and NK603, with one sample containing GA21, while the other events were not detected in any of the analysed foods. The quantitative results suggest the need for a more severe control since 4% of the analysed foods contained more than the threshold for labelling and none of them declared the presence of GMO

Código da Aliança: o pobre tem vez!

O artigo se propõe a investigar, no interior do Código da Aliança (Ex 20,22–23,33), as leis que buscam proteger os mais fracos da sociedade, ou seja, aqueles cujos direitos não são reconhecidos e que estão sujeitos a todos os tipos de arbitrariedades. Portanto, são as normas sociais que estarão mais no foco deste estudo, compreendendo, principalmente o texto de Ex 22,20 a 23,12. O objetivo é realizar um confronto da legislação do Código da Aliança com outros “códigos” legais do Oriente Médio Antigo, justamente a fim de perceber as principais diferenças e características do direito israelita em relação ao de seus vizinhos. Ficará evidente que, apesar de não ser uma legislação que promova uma igualdade social absoluta, as leis israelitas primam por evitar que as camadas mais pobres e frágeis da sociedade sejam, ainda, vítimas da ausência de uma proteção aos seus direitos mais básicos. Além do mais, serão constatados os avanços em relação às demais legislações do Oriente Médio Antigo

Inspecting zircon populations of the Iberian Pyrite Belt: tracking the Cadomian record of the South Portuguese Zone

AIMS OF THE MEETING: The scientific sessions will be focused on the Pan-African and Cadomian Orogenies recorded in North Africa and western Europe across the Ediacaran Cambrian transition and its bearing in the assembly and demise of Pannotia. Contributions dealing with structural, magmatic, provenance sources, palaeomagnetic, sedimentary, chronostratigraphic and radiometric constraints are particularly welcome. ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: J. Javier Álvaro, Instituto de Geociencias (CSIC-UCM), Spain Martim Chichorro, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal Gabriel Gutiérrez-Alonso, Universidad de Salamanca.ABSTRACT: The palaeogeographic location of the southernmost zone of the Iberian Massif, the South Portuguese Zone (SPZ), prior to the amalgamation of Pangaea is still a matter of debate. In this work, we attempt to track its palaeogeographic setting during the final stages of the Cadomian Cycle.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assessing the effect of pharmaceutical excipients on the DNA extraction from plant food supplements

in the EU market as ingredients in formulations, which are sold as plant food supplements (PFS). Among the several issues that may affect the safety of PFS, the most relevant concerns aduÍterations by the illegal addition of pharmaceutical drugs and/or the swap/ misidentification ofplant material, with cases of acate toxicity already reported [l]. Owing to the high similarity and distinct therapeutic uses ofseveral medicinal plants, accurate and fast methodologies allowing their distincüon are required. For that purpose, DNA-based methods are considered fast, sensitive and highly specific tools, allowing the unequivocal identification of plant species. Up to date, most of DNA methodologies reporting the identification of plant species essentially concern medicinal plants [2], with few works being developed for the authentication of PFS.This work was supported by the projects EXPL/DTP-SAP/1438/2013 (4SaferPFS) and Pest-C/EQB/LA0006/2013 financed by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) (FEDER funds through COMPETE). Teimo J.R. Fernandes is grateful to FCT PhD grant (SFRH/BD/93711/2013) financed by POPH-QREN (subsidised by FSE and MCTES).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Soybean DNA extraction from blended refined vegetable oils

The major genetically modified (GM) crop species is soybean (Glycine max), accounting for 53% of the total world’s GM planted area and 70% of the soybean annual production in 2008 [1]. Since the approval of Roundup Ready® (RR) soybean in EU, the production of soybean oil using GM seeds has been increasing. In EU, the doubts raised by the use of genetically modified organisms (GMO) lead to the mandatory labelling for food products containing more than 0.9% of authorised GMO. In blended edible oils prepared with mixtures of two or more different oils, it is important to verify the labelling statements concerning their constituents and the presence of GM material, since soybean oil is frequently used. The analysis of DNA coupled with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been the technique of choice to monitor the presence of GMO in food. However, it is very difficult to obtain amplifiable DNA from oil since most vegetable oils, like crude soybean oil, must be refined prior to its consumption