Medical News Today reports on Japanese scientists who have bred a transgenic rice to fight pollen allergies.

The rice is in a new category of genetically modified foods. The first generation of gentically modified crops was designed to withstand insects and fight off weeds. Called ‘biopharmaceutical’ crops, this next generation involves ‘creating’ food with higher levels of vitamins and minerals – or even that contain medicines and vaccines.

This particular transgenic rice plant has been engineered to fight allergies to Japanese cedar pollen–an allergy that affects nearly 20 percent of Japan's population. In tests to see whether the rice is safe for consumption, researchers fed a group of monkeys with the modified rice and another group of monkeys with non-transgenic rice. After 26 weeks, the test monkeys did not show any health problems.

You can find the full report about the genetically modified rice in The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.