How do you know your buying produce that's not genetically modified? One option is to always buy organic. If organic doesn't work for your lifestyle, there is another sneaky way to find out. Check the PLU code on the sticker of whatever fruit or veggie your buying. It should show a sequence of either 4 or 5 numbers. If you see a 4 digit number then it is conventionally grown. This means that it is not genetically modified but the farmers do use chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides that can stick on it all the way into your stomach. Here's where it gets kind of important to remember detail. If you see a 5 digit number beginning with the number 9 it is organically grown (safest option). But if you see a 5 digit number starting with an 8 it is a GMO food.
That seems simple enough to choose the right produce. But what if you buy processed food? Snacks, cereals, juice, bread, seasonings, dressings and even milk can be the result of a laboratory experiment. Do you read the labels on the foods your buy? I have been trying very hard to strictly buy organic. I'm realizing more and more than most food can't be trusted. I'd like to share some details about organic foods and some tips on how to identify if your buying Genetically Modified (GMO) foods.
Some GMO or GE (Genetically Engineered) foods are made in a lab by injecting genes from different species. And keep in mind that if its a tomato that's being modified, chances are the genes are coming from something other than a tomato, probably not even a vegetable. What if a peanut has a trait that a scientist thinks would work well in a cucumber? That scientist will extract that gene, attach it to a virus or bacteria and inject it into the cucumber. Now that seed is sold to the farmers who don't give a crap about us and sold in food stores. Not only am I totally uninterested in eating a modified food, but what if a person with a peanut allergy eats the modified cucumber? I'm sure it's not good.
Now that I've (hopefully) grossed everyone out a little bit, let me help you identify a GMO product so it's a little easier to avoid. Corn, sugar beets, soybeans, canola, cotton, sugar cane, tomato, hawaiian papaya, potatoes, rice and even commercial milk are some of the highest modified crops.
Keep in mind while continuing to read that organic is the way to go to avoid the modified foods that I will be talking about.
96% of corn grown today is biotech corn (GMO). It has been modified to handle lethal amounts of pesticides (and no the pesticides don't wash off by the time they get to the food store). Some ingredients to look out for that are made from modified corn are:
Citric acid and absorbic acid (can be found in juice and a number of other things)
Baking powder (contains corn starch. not to be confused with baking soda, sodium bicarbonate)
Caramel
Confectioners sugar (table sugar made with corn starch) (Trader Joe's uses tapioca starch)
Dextrin/maltodextrin
Dextrose/glucose/fructose (fried foods, cookies, ice cream and sports drinks like Gatorade)
Invert sugar/invert syrup
Anything with the word "corn", even popcorn
Malt, malt syrup, malt extract (if it doesn't clearly state barley malt, then it's GMO corn or rice)
Monoglycerides/ Diglycerides (improves texture of dressings, ice creams and sauces)
Monosodium Glutamate (MSG-instant soups, chinese food...)
Sorbitol (vit C, toothpaste, mouthwash)
Starch, food starch, modified food starch
Vanilla extract
Vegetable anything (doesn't specify the vegetable, then its corn. Veg oil, veg broth, veg protein, veg shortening)
Xanthan gum
Tomatoes were first modified in 1994 but quickly taken off the market because of cancerous effects. Now tomatoes are modified in different ways. 93% of cotton, 50% of papaya, 10% of potatoes and 75% of canola (rapeseed) are modified.
Rice was injected with 3different genes to make it higher in vitamin A. Two of the genes come from daffodils and one from bacterium.
Commercial milk farmers inject the cows with recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) which is a genetically modified hormone created to increase each cow's milk production. This hormone is present in the milk that comes from these cows. Not only does it sicken the cows in great numbers, it is linked to cancer in human beings.
I'm pretty disgusted with this information and will be avoiding these at all costs.
Resources: Vishniac.com, healthy-eating-politics.com
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