Guideline for the Conduct of Food Safety Assessment of Foods Derived from Recombinant-dna Plants

3. The Codex principles of risk analysis, particularly those for risk assessment, are primarily intended to apply to discrete chemical entities such as food additives and pesticide residues, or a specific chemical or microbial contaminant that have identifiable hazards and risks; they are not intended to apply to whole foods as such. Indeed, few foods have been assessed scientifically in a manner that would fully characterise all risks associated with the food. Further, many foods contain substances that would likely be found harmful if subjected to conventional approaches to safety testing. Thus, a more focused approach is required where the safety of a whole food is being considered.