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If You Need to Ask, It’s Probably Genetically Modified

June 6th, 2011 Leave a comment Go to comments
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Many Fooducate community members and app users email us asking why we don’t focus more on the issue of genetically modified foods. More specifically, they’d like to see our mobile app notify them if a product is GM or not.

Unfortunately, product labeling laws in the US do not require disclosure on this matter. This is unlike 40 other countries in Europe and elsewhere that do have such a requirement. In countries where GM labeling exists, consumers have voted resoundingly with their wallets, and none of the GMO crops (soy, corn) have been accepted into the mainstream food system.

Here the situation is the opposite. As you can see in the graph above, in just 10 short years, almost all our soy and corn crops have been switched over to genetically modified versions.

Which means that any product you buy with soy protein (energy bars), soy lecithin (chocolates, deserts), high fructose corn syrup (beverages, sweets, snacks, breads), corn syrup, meat derived from animals eating corn & soy (which is most factory farmed meat), Doritos and Tostitos, etc… is made with genetically modified ingredients.

Source: LA Times infographic.

What you need to know:

Is GM so bad?

That’s a great question. Obviously the US government doesn’t think so.

Does tweaking the DNA of a plant to make it more resistant to pests, thus reducing the need to spray it with pesticide sounds so bad?

What if that tweaking causes unintended side effects?

What if that tweaking means injecting animal DNA into plants?

To be honest, there is so much argument over this matter that nobody can say for sure what the long term implications of genetic modification are. But it feels as if we are lab rats in a giant experiment.

Given the choice, most of us would prefer to know if their food has been genetically modified. Ten years ago,  the government missed the opportunity to let us know and choose. This is when GM was only in only a small portion of foods. Today, even if by some magic all GM foods were labelled so, most people wouldn’t be able to do much about it because most of the alternatives are also GM.

The alternative to GM derived food is to buy only certified organic foods. But that is an expensive option for most people. Other options are buying the Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s brands (their policies include stocking food from non-GMO sources).

Back to the original question – why doesn’t the Fooducate app provide info on GM products?

The answer – because practically all products with corn and soy are GM. And if a product is organic, it is clearly labeled as such, you don’t need Fooducate to tell you.

For most people GM is a fuzzy future potential risk, while eating food with too much sodium or sugar or calories poses a much more clear and immediate danger. That’s where we focus most of our efforts at this point.

What to do at the supermarket:

If you are interested in GM free foods, you can

  1. go organic
  2. buy at Trader Joe’s (TJ brands)
  3. buy at Whole Foods (365 brand)
  4. buy Wegmans home brand (Food You Feel Good About)
  5. look for for foods with labels such as the one below (you will be hard pressed to find it though).

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Categories: Food Label, Food Safety, Fooducate Mobile App, News, Organic Tags: , , , , , , ,
  • http://twitter.com/OnNutrition Carol Plotkin

    I posted on your FB page but I think that it is important to post here as well. The production and consumption of GMO crops is a big experiment being conducted on the American people. The concept of innocent until proven guilty does not apply when we are dealing with what we put into our bodies. There is concern about a new pathogen found only in GMO crops that stands to be devastating for agriculture and the animals that consume GMOs http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign/dr_hubers_warning/.  

  • http://www.awakenedwellness.com Rachel Assuncao, Health Coach

    I understand that the genesis for this article was about the Fooducate app and blog posts, and I certainly understand where you are coming from.  If Fooducate tried to take on all of the different considerations of what makes food healthy (GMO being just one of them), you’d not be doing such a great job highlighting some of the basics.

    Personally, I’m a big advocate for the right to make an informed choice about GMO consumption.  The Truth in Labeling movement is a start in the right direction – clearly stating when a product has GMOs, but people also need to understand the impacts of GMO foods on our bodies.  As you’ve highlighted, we don’t really know what the impacts will be. Why?  Because the effects have never been tested on human beings and GMOs haven’t been on the market long enough to see what happens to people who are eating them in the long term.  We do know that when tests are done on animals, the results are chilling – significantly increased rates of cancer and other diseases, entire populations becoming sterile within a few generations, and lots of other horrible results.

    I suspect that if we, as a society, understood what the effects of GMOs are on our bodies, our environment, and our local economies, we might be more skeptical of buying or consuming them.  Personally, I do my best to ensure that anything containing soy or corn that we eat comes from organic sources.

    One small point of clarification.  Although both Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods private labels are GMO free, they don’t (currently) require all of their suppliers to be GMO free. Trader Joe’s is ahead of the game – about 80% of their products are GMO free presently. This may increase as consumer pressures drive both organizations to make a stand against GMOs.  For now, shopping at their store doesn’t guarantee a GMO-free experience unless you are only buying their house brand.

    • http://www.fooducate.com/blog Fooducate

      Thanks Rachel, updated the post to reflect your clarification re: TJ, Whole Foods.

  • Jocelyn_marie

    They DO NOT tweak the DNA to withstand pests. They tweak they tweak it to withstand their special pesticide. Monsanto makes the gmo plants(seed) and they pesticide. Gmo crops are heavily sprayed.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_HQP6JSZEQQAQYTRTAXPG3SLOSE Mrs. V

    I just wanted to mention that if you live on the East coast that Wegmans brand “Food You Feel Good About” is also free of GM crops.

    • http://www.fooducate.com/blog Fooducate

      added to the list above. thanks!

  • Emmma

    I’d just like to point out that technically, pretty much all food has been, to one extent or another, genetically modified through years of selective breeding of animals or selective crossings of plants. GM foods just have taken a little shortcut.

    • Charlotte

      Yes and no Emmma. You’re right that we’ve ended up with the food we currently buy through selective breeding. However, the GMO issue is that they add animal DNA to plants. Or DNA from plants that would not under any circumstances normally cross-breed.

      Another thing that is happening to these plants is that since they are not properly tested before selling to the growers, ending up costing the growers millions when their crops fail (Monsanto, cotton, India). Also because of open pollination, a lot of organic or non-GMO farmers can no longer harvest their own seeds because they have been contaminated by GMO-DNA. It is only a matter of time before the is no such thing as “non-GMO” food.

      • Emmma

        I’m all for testing, no argument there, and labeling as long as it labels something directly dangerous to certain populations (like labeling GM tomatoes that have shellfish genes to protect from frost to make consumers aware of allergens). I just dislike the knee-jerk reaction I find far too often that all GM foods are creepy, dangerous frankenfoods. In fact, GM could hugely help dangerously low-genetic-variability plants and animals by introducing more genetic variability to the populations and therefore make them more hardy.

  • Karyn

    It really is outrageous that the spread of GMO crops has been allowed to get to this point of overtaking the majority of two major food sources in the U.S.  As I recall, GM canola is another one high on the list.  How long will “buy organic” be an option for these particular products?

  • dragonflyrunner

    I think we have a right to know and this should be clearly labeled.  The government looks out for big corporations and not consumers.  We should be wary of Whole Foods if this article is true…..
    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/2011/01/9903/whole-foods-market-caves-monsanto

  • http://www.UrbanOrganicGardener.com Mike Lieberman

    What about love for the farmers markets? You can cut out the middleman and ask the grower directly.

  • http://www.thefrugaldietitian.com Nancy – The Frugal dietitian

    I am still waiting for the research to indicate that GMO foods are bad or detrimental to health.

  • Sugruea

    Wegman’s “Food You Can Feel Good About” is NOT GMO FREE as per an email from them below:
     
    Unfortunately, it is very difficult to determine which foods are GE. The only way to be sure a product is not GE, is to eat organic. We have been collecting information (from all over the world it seems) and talking to the experts, trying to understand the facts as well as consumer and grower attitudes.Based on data from the USDA, between 55 and 95% of acres growing corn, soybean, canola, and cotton crops are growing genetically engineered crops.  These ingredients are in many of the processed foods we sell.  Since GE and non-GE crops are mixed together in the same “pipeline” we have to assume that the non-organic packaged foods on supermarket shelves may contain genetically engineered ingredients.  We don’t know of any fresh produce being sold in our stores that is from genetically engineered seed.  But, some local farmers may have test plots.  Some of the well-publicized products – such as some tomatoes and potatoes – either did not succeed or have not yet made it into our market area.Genetic engineered foods must be labeled only if they are significantly different in composition, such as in nutrition or allergen reactivity.  Today, the GE crops being harvested offer production advantages to farmers (for example, the need to use fewer pesticides) but no compositional differences to the end consumer.We’ve done quite a bit of research on testing for GE ingredients and have found that it’s extremely difficult, if not impossible, to do.  For example, there is no test available that can reliably determine the source of ingredients that have been highly processed, which is the case for corn syrup, soybean, canola, and corn oil.  These are four of the most common ingredients made from GE crops.Since there is not a reliable test and no FDA regulation requiring companies to uniformly declare when GE ingredients are used, we have no plans at this time to change the labeling on any of our Wegmans brand products.  What we are doing is continually looking for certified organic and GE-free labeled products as they become available and offer those choices to our customers.  Most of these items can be found in our Nature’s Marketplace department.
     
    Sincerely,Marcie Consumer Services Specialist

  • Sugruea

    Wegman’s “Food You Can Feel Good About” is NOT GMO FREE as per an email from them below:
     
    Unfortunately, it is very difficult to determine which foods are GE. The only way to be sure a product is not GE, is to eat organic. We have been collecting information (from all over the world it seems) and talking to the experts, trying to understand the facts as well as consumer and grower attitudes.Based on data from the USDA, between 55 and 95% of acres growing corn, soybean, canola, and cotton crops are growing genetically engineered crops.  These ingredients are in many of the processed foods we sell.  Since GE and non-GE crops are mixed together in the same “pipeline” we have to assume that the non-organic packaged foods on supermarket shelves may contain genetically engineered ingredients.  We don’t know of any fresh produce being sold in our stores that is from genetically engineered seed.  But, some local farmers may have test plots.  Some of the well-publicized products – such as some tomatoes and potatoes – either did not succeed or have not yet made it into our market area.Genetic engineered foods must be labeled only if they are significantly different in composition, such as in nutrition or allergen reactivity.  Today, the GE crops being harvested offer production advantages to farmers (for example, the need to use fewer pesticides) but no compositional differences to the end consumer.We’ve done quite a bit of research on testing for GE ingredients and have found that it’s extremely difficult, if not impossible, to do.  For example, there is no test available that can reliably determine the source of ingredients that have been highly processed, which is the case for corn syrup, soybean, canola, and corn oil.  These are four of the most common ingredients made from GE crops.Since there is not a reliable test and no FDA regulation requiring companies to uniformly declare when GE ingredients are used, we have no plans at this time to change the labeling on any of our Wegmans brand products.  What we are doing is continually looking for certified organic and GE-free labeled products as they become available and offer those choices to our customers.  Most of these items can be found in our Nature’s Marketplace department.
     
    Sincerely,Marcie Consumer Services Specialist

  • Sugruea

    Wegman’s “Food You Can Feel Good About” is NOT GMO FREE as per an email from them below:
     
    Unfortunately, it is very difficult to determine which foods are GE. The only way to be sure a product is not GE, is to eat organic. We have been collecting information (from all over the world it seems) and talking to the experts, trying to understand the facts as well as consumer and grower attitudes.Based on data from the USDA, between 55 and 95% of acres growing corn, soybean, canola, and cotton crops are growing genetically engineered crops.  These ingredients are in many of the processed foods we sell.  Since GE and non-GE crops are mixed together in the same “pipeline” we have to assume that the non-organic packaged foods on supermarket shelves may contain genetically engineered ingredients.  We don’t know of any fresh produce being sold in our stores that is from genetically engineered seed.  But, some local farmers may have test plots.  Some of the well-publicized products – such as some tomatoes and potatoes – either did not succeed or have not yet made it into our market area.Genetic engineered foods must be labeled only if they are significantly different in composition, such as in nutrition or allergen reactivity.  Today, the GE crops being harvested offer production advantages to farmers (for example, the need to use fewer pesticides) but no compositional differences to the end consumer.We’ve done quite a bit of research on testing for GE ingredients and have found that it’s extremely difficult, if not impossible, to do.  For example, there is no test available that can reliably determine the source of ingredients that have been highly processed, which is the case for corn syrup, soybean, canola, and corn oil.  These are four of the most common ingredients made from GE crops.Since there is not a reliable test and no FDA regulation requiring companies to uniformly declare when GE ingredients are used, we have no plans at this time to change the labeling on any of our Wegmans brand products.  What we are doing is continually looking for certified organic and GE-free labeled products as they become available and offer those choices to our customers.  Most of these items can be found in our Nature’s Marketplace department.
     
    Sincerely,Marcie Consumer Services Specialist

  • Jessica

    I am so suprised with the pro GMO posts. Crops like soybeans are not genetically altered to withstand pests so much as to withstand RoundUp herbicide. If you think they are only exchanging genes with other plants and increasing biodiversity, I encourage you to view a documentary called “The Future of Food” by Deborah Koons Garcia. It will be enlightening.

  • http://geneticallyengineeredfoodnews.com Ella Baker

    The
    European Union and the United States have strong disagreements over the EU’s
    regulation of genetically modified food. The US claims these regulations
    violate free trade agreements, the EU counter-position is that free trade is
    not truly free without informed consent.