Assessment of possible allergenicity of hypothetical ORFs in common food crops using current bioinformatic guidelines and its implications for the safety assessment of GM crops

► Thousands of stop-to-stop reading frames from common food crop genomes exceed Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/World Health Organization's (WHO) allergenicity guidelines. ► Eight residue identical matches to allergens are common within the genomes and protein-coding genes of common food crops. ► Non-transgenic maize, rice, and soybean fail the bioinformatic safety assessment applied by regulatory agencies. ► Current bioinformatics guidelines have questionable value in terms of making decisions on the safety of genetically modified (GM) crops.