Multivariate analysis for the safety assessment of genetically modified rices in the anti‐nutrients and phenolic compounds

A safety assessment of genetically modified (GM) rice Agb0102 (resveratrol synthesis) and Agb0103 (drought‐tolerant) were conducted by comparing with their non‐GM comparators. Phytic acid, trypsin inhibitors and phenolic acids of the rices were analysed to identify the biological equivalences and the impacts of the environment. The analytical tools were principal component analysis (PCA), Pearson's correlation analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA). The PCA results of phytic acid and trypsin inhibitors revealed no clear separation among rices due to breeding conditions, environmental conditions or among various cultivars. The total, bound, free and ester forms of phenolic acids were not separated in the environmental conditions and different cultivars. The HCA analysis showed strong relationship between GM rice and non‐GM rice. The concentrations of anti‐nutrient and phenolic compounds of the GM rices were not different from those of non‐GM comparators and that various chemometric tools were useful to describe the separation of GM and non‐GM groups.