Last week I came up with the idea of posting Food for Thought, something related to current events. I thought I'd keep it food related this week and go with Genetically Modified Food...I'd love to hear what you think.
What is Genetically Modified/Engineered Food?
GMO/GE Foods are created by scientists who add genes from different animals, viruses, etc to plants and crops in order to create a specific new trait. Most seeds from GMO/GE foods can be traced back to one company, Monsanto.
For example:
A GE Tomato has genes from Flounder (the fish) to make it more resistant to cold weather.
Corn, Soy, etc. genetically modified with the Bacteria, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) creates its own insecticide.
There are many problems with GMO/GE including health and environmental concerns that are not being addressed. Be your own advocate simply by being informed.
There are fabulous resources out there about GMO/GE Foods, check it out:
Farm Aid
Non-GMO project
True Food Now Shoppers Guide
Organic is Worth It
How to Identify GMO/GE Produce?
Because there are no laws making labeling mandatory (yet) here are some tricks to figuring out your produce.
A conventionally grown banana would be: 4011
An organic banana would be: 94011
A genetically engineered (GE or GMO) banana would be: 84011
(Source)
Thank you so much! I have wanted to know more about the GMO/GE foods and you have explained it so clearly and given us great resources. Thanks for making us all better informed consumers and citizens of the world. Just great!
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