The food safety is always an issue with transgenic plants. Therefore, the HRAP
and PFLP protein was evaluated using bioinformatics approach to identify any potential
protein sequence matches with any allergenic proteins. Results of the FASTA3 search of
the HRAP and PFLP protein against AllergenOnline version 7.0 did not identify any
significant alignment with an allergen indicating that these proteins should be safe for
human consumption. These proteins are widely distributed throughout a broad range of
plant species, including tobacco, Arabidopsis, rice and fruits such as pepper that are eaten
raw. Even so, the transgenic lines will be tested for food safety in compliance with
biosafety regulations. The environmental impact studies like non-target effects of
nematode-resistant plantains will also be assessed during confined field trial.