1. IntroductionA Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Foods Derived from Biotechnology was held at the Headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva from 29 May to 2 June 2000. A total of 27 experts, including authors of discussion papers, participated in the Consultation. The complete list of participants is given in Annex 1.Ms Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Executive Director, Cluster of Sustainable Development and Healthy Environments, opened the Consultation on behalf of Directors-General of WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In her statement, Ms Singh indicated that biotechnology would provide powerful tools for the sustainable development of agriculture and food production. When appropriately integrated with other technologies for the food production, biotechnology can be of significant assistance in meeting the needs of an expanding and increasingly urbanized population in the new millennium. Ms Singh drew attention to the concern expressed by the public at large over the safety and nutritional aspects of foods derived from biotechnology. She stressed the need for the constant review of methodologies for risk assessment and expected the Consultation to provide Member States of FAO and WHO with useful guidance in this respect.The Consultation elected Dr Harry Kuiper as Chairperson and Dr Marília Regini Nutti as Vice-Chairperson. Dr James Maryanski was elected as Rapporteur and Dr Jennifer Thomson as Vice-Rapporteur. The Consultation decided to nominate Co-Rapporteurs for each of the sections of the programme to assist in the drafting of the report of the Consultation. Dr Ronald Walker was nominated Co-Rapporteur for Section A (Approaches to the Nutritional and Food Safety Evaluations), Dr Keith Downey for Section B (Nutrition-Related Issues) and Dr Ian Munro for Section C (Specific Food Safety Issues)1 .