Would You Eat 'Bioengineered' Food?
I am loving that fact that more and more people are starting to read labels. And one of the things that keep poppin’ up in certain post is people posting photos of labels with the disclaimer on them that say ‘This product contains bio engineered products”.
Surprise! You probably are already consuming these products and have been for years and didn’t know. Hear are some facts on bioengineered foods, aka genetically modified foods (GMO) aka frankenfoods.
Genetically Modified Foods - What are they?
GMO foods are foods, usually fruits and vegetables, that are genetically modified by inserting new DNA into the plant. This is done to improve taste, increase resilience and increase crop yields. They are also designed to increase attractiveness (ie apples that are less likely to brown when cut), increase shelf life, resistant to disease, insects and a tolerance to herbicides. They also say it is to increase nutritional content, but that is still being debated.
Since GMO foods are relatively new - first developed in 1973, when chemists Herbert Boyle and Stanley Cohen developed a process to transfer DNA from one bacteria to another, long term effects on health is not fully known and research is still ongoing.
Genetically Modified Foods Going Mainstream
By 1994, a GMO tomato (Flavr Savr)became available to purchase and was proved to be ‘safe’ for consumption by the FDA. However in 1997, it was taken off the market because of cost and lack of benefit. This was the beginning of the wave of produce created through the modification process. Squash, soybeans, corn, papayas, tomatoes, potatoes, canola and sugar beets are the most common GMO foods. Then in 2015 the FDA approves the first genetically modified animal, salmon.
There was never a requirement to label foods with ‘made from GMO foods’ until 2016 when the FDA required labels to indicate if the foods were GMO or made with GMO ingredients. This was a cumbersome process for food producers and labelling requirements changed again in 2022. The FDA changed the labelling requirement to the new National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard that states all foods containing GMO ingredients must now be labelled ‘derived from bioengineered/bioengineered’ OR they must show a QR code or symbol. This does provide a bit more transparency for the consumer.
If you feel like you can’t sleep at night, here is more information.
Understanding the new US bioengineered disclosure - Alliance for Science
Are GMO Foods Safe?
Over the years there has been much debate over the safety on these foods. GMO foods are known to trigger allergic reactions. An example would be when a brazil nut is combined in a soybean, a person with a nut allergy could have a reaction to the soybean. There are concerns of links to cancer by the increased levels of carcinogens in the body from ingesting bioengineered foods.
Some GMOs foods are designed to make them antibiotic resistant and in theory genes from ingesting these plants may result in a person developing antibiotic resistance. Another concern is changes to human DNA and toxicity to organs which is still ongoing research.
Health risks of genetically modified foods - PubMed (nih.gov)
How to Avoid GMO Foods
Foods most likely to be GMO:
99.9% sugar beets
95% canola
94% soybean and soybean products
92% corn
All these can be found in processed foods such as soups/sauces, sweeteners, oils in mayonnaise, dressings, bread and sugar from sugar beets.
What GMO CROPS are grown and sold in the U.S.? (fda.gov)
So how do we avoids these products with bioengineered foods?
Buy Organic - certified organic foods are not permitted to have GMO products in them.
Read Labels - Look for the NON GMO label on foods or organic labelling
Support and Get to Know Your Local Farms - Many small farms do not have certified organic labelling because it is expensive but practice organically. Talk to them and get to know their farming practices.
Make Food at Home - Using organic products, make food at home will ensure that you will not be getting GMO/bioengineered products.
I will leave you with this last statement from the Center for Food Safety
Genetically engineered foods are inherently unstable. Each insertion of a novel gene, and the accompanying “cassette” of promoters, antibiotic marker systems and vectors, is random. GE food producers simply do not know where their genetic “cassette” is being inserted in the food, nor do they know enough about the genetic/chemical makeup of foods to establish a “safe” place for such insertions. As a result, each gene insertion into a food amounts to playing food safety “roulette,” with the companies hoping that the new genetic material does not destabilize a safe food and make it hazardous. Each genetic insertion creates the added possibility that formerly nontoxic elements in the food could become toxic. link
It just makes sense that foods that are in their natural state are the safest and healthiest for our bodies.
Thoughts?
Danni
This is very helpful. You can add HFCS ( high fructose corn syrup) to the list of GMOs and it’s in almost every processed food, often under other names. It’s a huge contributor to obesity but most of that has been swept under the rug. Buyer beware.
Thank you for this easy to understand article explaining what these bio-engineered foods are all about. It’s good to know that sticking to the organic foods means we are avoiding most of these items. Even more reasons to avoid canola and corn in general.