Common foods that most may not know are genetically modified
Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMOs for short, have become a very taboo topic among the public. There is much unrest at the idea of this ‘new’ innovative way of producing mass amounts of food. However, the vast variety of foods that have been consumed for years that are actually GMOs is not something that is well known.
In the broadest sense of the term, GMO simply means that the organism was altered on the molecular level. According to the World Health Organization, these foods have been given genes that will confer some advantage to either the producer or the consumer. However, these processes have been done for thousands of years, although there was less science involved previously. For example, Medical Daily’s article on the history of GMOs states that “sweet potatoes were bred some 8,000 years ago out of the swollen parts of regular potato roots.” Therefore, sweet potatoes are essentially a genetic creation from humans. The list of common GMOs as documented by Dr. Edward Group on the Global Healing Center website, also includes corn, sugar from sugar beets, soy beans, tomatoes, squash and flax. However, since many products are made using GMOs such as corn, the list of secondary GMO products is very long. This secondary list can include foods such as baby formula, vegetable oil, canola oil, synthetic vitamins, ice cream, sausage, frozen foods, cereals, pop, and corn starch. It should be clear, however, that the list does not end there since many of these products are used in other meals.
Nevertheless, one must also think of how GMOs may be used in feed. Much of meat sold today came from livestock which were fed a diet that includes corn products or vegetable products (both of which are GMOs). Therefore, in this way, meat and other animal products can indirectly be added to the list of foods containing GMOs.
However, the livestock themselves can also be genetically modified. Specifically speaking, the new and exciting product for those who are lactose intolerant—lactose free milk—is actually from a genetically modified cow. The Telegraph explains in their article that “Cows [are] genetically modified to produce healthier milk,” and that humans have created a cow that lactates lactose-free milk. Similarly, humans have also created a cow that has milk rich in healthy fish fats and have infused cows with human genes to produce milk closer to human breast milk
Technically speaking cloning does not fall into the category of GMO. However, for those who are concerned with GMOs being unethical, cloning may be a topic of interest as well. It may come as a surprise that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration admits that cloning of livestock has been carried out since 1996. Selective breeding became obsolete long ago and farmers commonly implicate assisted reproductive technologies for breeding, or clone their livestock. In this way they can manipulate reproduction to get desired traits, much like what is done in GMOs.
Therefore, the pursuit of foods that were not genetically modified is a mighty, if not impossible task.