Such developments are primarily intended to benefit food processors and producers or other industrial users, rather than consumers directly. Similarly, work on sugar beet, potatoes and maize to modify starch content is primarily aimed at producing alternative sources of specialist starches for industry, although spin-off research claims that it could be possible to produce healthier chips from potatoes modified to have a higher starch content which absorb less fat. It has been proposed that biotechnology could be used to improve the protein content of staple crops in developing countries. Some success has been reported for sweet potato, and future work may involve cassava, rice and plantain. Modifying protein composition is also being used to improve the dough-making characteristics of wheat of potential benefit to the baking industry.
Proteins are also of interest to the pharmaceutical and infant formula markets.
Such products will increasingly blur the boundaries between food and therapeutic medicinal products. Despite its obvious consumer benefits, only limited success has so far been achieved to remove allergens from allergy-triggering foods such as peanuts, rice and milk. These second generation GM crops pose new safety considerations. The production of nutritionally altered foods using genetic modification involves changing basic biochemical pathways. Researchers are finding that achieving the desired effect is more complex than anticipated and unintended consequences may arise from the genetic modifications.