Frankenstein, Test-Tubes, and Foods

Not since cholesterol and the egg has a nutrition issue been so debated. Genetic engineering, GMOs, transgenic foods, frankenfoods, scientifically engineered foods - food biotechnology is a hot topic that consumers need to know about and understand.

According to a recent survey, consumer knowledge of food biotechnology continues to be low. Biotechnology is any technique (including genetic engineering) that makes use of living organisms to improve plants or animals or to develop microorganisms for specific purposes.

The goal of food biotechnology is to add or delete certain traits to or from a plant to offer herbicide or pesticide resistance, nutritional benefits, or improved crop yields.

The world population is expected to reach 9 billion in 2050. Many scientists are questioning how we will feed everyone. Food biotechnology can be part of the answer making it possible to grow nutrient dense food on smaller plots of land under poor growing conditions. The world food staples can be enhanced nutritionally through biotechnology to offer sustenance and nutrition to hungry people.

According to the International Food Policy Research Institute, “agricultural products grown locally allow poor people to improve their diets without having to depend solely on the vagaries of often-infrequent fortification and supplementation programs.

The potential of food biotechnology to play a role in battling the economically and politically complex issue of world hunger is great. Research is being done to examine technologies that may enhance the protein and fat content of the diet and the potential social and economic impacts of introducing enriched food sources to populations in developing nations.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration policy is based on food product characteristics, not the processes used to produce the food. The FDA’s focus on material facts of nutrition, safety, and content, requires labeling of products that have a change in composition or nutritional content, or the introduction of an allergen.

Many countries place great importance on the processes of food production. The explanation from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations meeting summarizes the difference in opinions of the United States and the European Union:

In the United States, the law requires information on food products to be clear and unambiguous. Labels are intended to provide meaningful information, to warn and instruct the consumer. Further misleading or unnecessary information is believed to conflict with the right of consumers to be able to choose wisely, and to lessen the effectiveness of essential label information.

In the European Union, labeling is viewed as a way to ensure the consumers' right to know any fact that they deem important; it is a way to give consumers a choice and to inform them. The European Union's approach to labeling attempts to reach a compromise among the industrial, scientific and public sectors. In the European Union, the question is not whether to label products of biotechnology, but how to label them.

Although the United States does not require labeling of biotech products based simply on the process, some companies want to label their products to indicate that a food or feed has or has not been developed using biotechnology, allowing a greater choice for manufacturers and consumers. All foods that are derived from agriculture have been genetically modified through breeding. The FDA has issued draft guidelines for voluntary labeling that would not allow terms such as "genetically modified" (GM), "genetically modified organism" (GMO), or "modified" because they would be considered misleading and inaccurate. Today, labeling continues to be a point of contention. Studies show that the overabundance of information on food labels does not always increase knowledge or understanding.

Foods produced through biotechnology may contain allergens. Extensive allergenicity screenings would be conducted prior to marketing. Foods of biotechnology are among the most thoroughly tested food products and research can help with allergies. By actually removing allergens from these foods people can eat them and receive the nutritional benefits.

The FDA, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of Agriculture are currently involved in food biotechnology issues, regulations, and policies. The verdict is still out. Whatever the case, keep your eyes, ears, and minds open and remember that in the past, changes to our foods have produced public concern and controversy.

source:  agreenliving.org