**1. Introduction**

The growth of the human population will increase day by day and create significant challenges for agricultural production. Now a days food security is one of the major concerns for the growing global population. Nearly 870 million people suffer from malnutrition; most of them are living in the developing countries of Africa, Asia, and South America [1]. Additionally, climate change and environmental deterioration are currently reducing the available agricultural land, creating additional challenges to fill the increasing food demand [2]. The use of modern biotechnology, including genetic modification techniques, has been proposed as a way to reduce the environmental footprint, by improving food quality and increasing productivity [3]. Genetically Modified Food (GMF) means any food containing or derived from a genetically engineered organism [4]. The majority of the biotech crops available on the global market have been genetically manipulated to express one of these basic traits: resistance to insects or viruses, tolerance to certain herbicides and nutritionally enhanced quality. In 2019, the 24th year of commercialization of biotech crops, 190.4 million hectares of biotech crops were planted by up to 17 million farmers in 29 countries. From the initial planting of 1.7 million hectares in 1996 when the first biotech crop was commercialized, the 2019 planting indicates ~112-fold increase Thus, biotech crops are considered as the fastest adopted crop technology in the history of modern agriculture [5]. Major producers of GM crops include USA, Argentina, Canada, and China. In the US, about 80% of maize, cotton and soya are biotech varieties [6]. Several safety issues are considered for the release or commercialization of genetically modified crops such as safety issues for human health, toxicity analysis, allergenicity analysis and biosafety assessment of genetically modified foods. This book chapter discusses the overall process for developing of genetically modified crops, brief history of global adoption of genetically modified crops, main agricultural traits and current status of the approved genetically modified crops and its role in food Security.
