<p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Dietary Exposure</b></p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">There was no reason to believe that the development of virus-resistant squash plants would result in a change in fresh marketing or processing procedures. Most yellow crookneck squash are consumed as a raw table vegetable or processed for the frozen food market. The fruit of ZW-20 is intended primarily for human consumption and the genetic modification will not result in any change in the consumption pattern for this product. Consequently, the dietary exposure to this product is anticipated to be the same as for other commercially available squash lines.</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Nutritional Data</b></p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">A compositional analysis was conducted on transgenic ZW-20 squash and the non-transformed parental variety in three different locations. The analysis of nutrients from transgenic ZW-20 squash and non-transgenic squash revealed only small differences that were within the range of variability normally reported for squash. It was concluded that there were no significant differences in the content of protein, moisture, fat, ash, total dietary fibre, carbohydrates, calories, fructose, glucose, sucrose, lactose, maltose, vitamin C, beta-carotene, vitamin A, calcium, iron, and sodium. The consumption of products from modified squash would have no significant impact on the nutritional quality of the food supply.</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">Cucurbitis plants, such as squash, produce alkaloids classified as cucurbitacins, bitter-tasting compounds that discourages feeding by herbivores. It was reported that cucurbitacin B and cucurbitacin E are detectable by taste at sensitivity levels as low as 1 &ndash;10 ppb. A standard test in plant breeding for the presence of cucurbitacins involves tasting the product to determine its bitterness. Both the transgenic squash line ZW-20 and its parent variety were non-bitter.</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Toxicity</b></p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">The WMV2 and ZYMV coat protein sequences were compared to databases of known protein toxins and did not show homologies with known mammalian protein toxins. The history of known safe consumption of these proteins from virus-infected plant products provides additional evidence of lack of toxicity.</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Allergenicity</b></p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">The WMV2 and ZYMV coat proteins do not possess characteristics typical of known protein allergens. Comparisons of the deduced amino acid sequence for each of these proteins with the sequences of known protein allergens did not reveal any significant homologies. The WMV2 and ZYMV coat proteins are extremely unlikely to be allergens.</p>
