The other side of the coin, says De Greef, is that since genetic engineering can be used to "add beneficial proteins to a plant, it could also be used to remove allergenic proteins if they do not perform a vital function in the crop". "It is unlikely", he continues, "that allergens have a vital function, since most of them are storage proteins, meaning that they serve only as food reserves for the germinating seed. This means that this new application of genetic engineering is set to provide alternative, non-allergenic versions of certain foodstuffs for people who suffer from food allergies".