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Workshop II: Food Safety Concepts and the Bangladesh Guidelines for Safety Assessment of Food Derived from Genetically Engineered Plants

    September 8, 2023-September 10, 2023
    9:00 am - 6:00 pm
    BCDM Rajendrapur
    Gazipur, Bangladesh

The Agriculture & Food Systems Institute (AFSI), in partnership with the Department of Environment, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of Bangladesh, under the auspices of the South Asia Biosafety Program (SABP), conducted a workshop series titled “Origins of Biosafety Internationally, the Relevant Policies and Regulations in Bangladesh, and the Necessary Regulatory Process During Each Phase of Biotechnology Research, Development, and Release.” The purpose of these training activities was to engage with experts at the Department of Environment in Bangladesh who are involved with the biosafety regulatory system. This program aimed to help them better understand their regulatory responsibility and how to best work with developers of genetically engineered (GE) organisms. Biosafety compliance while working with GE organisms was discussed throughout this series of workshops.

Held on July 14-15, 2023, the first workshop provided a platform for discussing the fundamentals of biosafety, with presentations on the history and context of biosafety, the development process for GE plants, regulatory responsibility, and biosafety obligations during GE plant development. The second workshop in the series, this three-day technical training program on food and feed safety assessment took place on September 8-10, 2023 and was structured to provide risk assessors with in-depth technical information about the purpose, design, and conduct of studies used to inform safety assessments of foods and feeds derived from GE plants. The topics covered helped establish a baseline understanding of relevant concepts and principles and included the whole food safety assessment paradigm, problem formulation, discussion of toxicity and allergenicity testing, compositional assessment, and animal feeding studies.

Guests and Speakers

Abdul Hamid, Ph.D.
Honorable Director General Department of Environment
Syeda Masuma Khanam
Director (Joint Secretary) - Natural Resource Management Department of Environment
Andrew Roberts, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer Agriculture & Food Systems Institute
Vibha Ahuja, Ph.D.
Senior Advisor South Asia Biosafety Program
Jason Dietz
Senior Policy Analyst Office of Food Additive Safety, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Aparna Islam, Ph.D.
Professor Brac University
Donald MacKenzie, Ph.D.
Executive Director Institute for International Crop Improvement (IICI), Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Rakha Hari Sarker, Ph.D.
Country Coordinator South Asia Biosafety Program

Agenda

Day 1

September 8, 2023 | 9:00 am - 6:00 pm

Time Topic Presenter/Facilitator
9:o0 am Welcome and Introductions

Recap of Workshop I

 Prof. Dr. Rakha Hari Sarker
Professor, Dhaka University and Country Coordinator, South Asia Biosafety Program
9:30 am Whole Food Safety Assessment and International Guidance for Assessing Foods and Feeds Derived from Genetically Engineered Plants Dr. Donald MacKenzie
Executive Director, Institute for International Crop Improvement, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
10:10 am Bangladesh Guidelines on Food Safety Assessment of Genetically Engineered Plants Dr. Aparna Islam
Professor, Biotechnology Program, Brac University and AFSI Fellow
10:50 am Tea Break  
11:30 am Problem Formulation and Key Concepts for Food Safety Assessment Dr. Andrew F. Roberts
Chief Executive Officer, Agriculture & Food Systems Institute
12:15 pm Exercise 1: Applying Problem Formulation to the Safety Assessment of Foods and Feeds Derived from Genetically Engineered Plants Dr. Andrew F. Roberts
1:15 pm Lunch and Prayer Break  
2:30 pm Exercise 1 (continued) Dr. Andrew F. Roberts
3:00 pm Characterization of the Genetic Modification and Newly Expressed Proteins TBD
3:40 pm Tea Break  
4:00 pm Exercise 2: Characterization of the Genetic Modification and Newly Expressed Proteins TBD
5:45 pm Q&A Session All
6:00 pm End of Day 1  

 

Day 2

September 9, 2023 | 9:00 am - 5:30 pm

Time Topic Presenter/Facilitator
9:00 am Recap of Day 1

Review of Agenda for Day 2

 Dr. Andrew F. Roberts
Special Session with Dignitaries
9:15 am Background and Context of the Workshop Ms. Syeda Masuma Khanam
Director (Joint Secretary) – Natural Resource Management, Department of Environment
9:30 am Speech by the Chief Guest Dr. Abdul Hamid
Honorable Director General, Department of Environment
9:55 am Vote of Thanks Prof. Dr. Rakha Hari Sarker
10:00 am Tea Break  
10:30 am Key Concepts: Assessing Potential Toxicity of Proteins

Exercise 4: Assessing Potential Toxicity of Proteins

 Dr. Andrew F. Roberts
12:45 pm Lunch  
1:45 pm Key Concepts: Allergenicity Assessment

Exercise 5: Assessing Potential Allergenicity of Proteins

 Dr. Donald MacKenzie
4:20 pm Tea Break  
4:45 pm Understanding Animal Feeding Studies in the Context of Food Safety Assessment Mr. Jason Dietz (recorded lecture)
Senior Policy Analyst, Office of Food Additive Safety, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
5:15 pm Q&A Session All
5:30 pm End of the Day 2  

 

Day 3

September 10, 2023 | 8:00 am - 12:30 pm

Time Topic Presenter/Facilitator
8:00 am Recap of Day 2

Review of Agenda for Day 3

 Dr. Andrew F. Roberts
8:15 am Key Concepts: Compositional Assessment Dr. Vibha Ahuja
Chief General Manager, Biotech Consortium India Ltd. (BCIL) and Senior Advisor, South Asia Biosafety Program
8:45 am Assessing Crop Compositional Data – AFSI CCDB

Exercise 6: Breakout Exercise

 Dr. Andrew F. Roberts
10:15 am Q&A Session All
10:30 am Tea Break  
11:00 am Accessing Information: Useful Resources for Safety Assessment of Foods and Feeds Derived from Genetically Engineered Plants

Exercise 7

 Prof. Dr. Rakha Hari Sarker
12:30 pm Q&A Session and Close of Program  
1:00 pm Lunch  
2:00 pm Return to Dhaka  

 

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