GMOs in Food
Here is a summary of crops, foods and food ingredients have been genetically modified as of May, 2010:
Currently Commercialized GM Crops in the U.S.:
(Number in parentheses represents the estimated percentage that is genetically modified.)
Soy (91%) Cotton (71%) Canola (88%) Corn (85%) Sugar Beets (90%) Hawaiian papaya (more than 50%) Alfalfa (at Supreme Court), Zucchini and Yellow Squash (small amount) Tobacco (Quest® brand)
Other Sources of GMOs:
• Dairy products from cows injected with the GM hormone rbGH
• Food additives, enzymes, flavorings, and processing agents, including the
sweetener aspartame (NutraSweet®) and rennet used to make hard cheeses
• Meat, eggs, and dairy products from animals that have eaten GM feed
• Honey and bee pollen that may have GM sources of pollen
• Contamination or pollination caused by GM seeds or pollen
Some of the Ingredients That May Be Genetically Modified: Vegetable oil, vegetable fat and margarines (made with soy, corn, cottonseed, and/or canola)
Ingredients derived from soybeans: Soy flour, soy protein, soy isolates, soy isoflavones, soy lecithin, vegetable proteins, textured vegetable protein (TVP), tofu, tamari, tempeh, and soy protein supplements.
Ingredients derived from corn: Corn flour, corn gluten, corn masa, corn starch, corn syrup, cornmeal, and High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).
Complete List of Invisible Ingredients
Some of the Foods That May Contain GM Ingredients:
| Infant formula Salad dressing Bread Cereal Hamburgers and hotdogs Margarine Mayonnaise Crackers Cookies Chocolate Candy Fried food Chips Veggie burgers Meat substitutes Ice cream |
Frozen yogurt Tofu Tamari?and Soy sauce Soy cheese Tomato sauce Protein powder Baking powder Any sugar not 100% Cane Confectioner's glaze Alcohol Vanilla (may contain corn syrup) Peanut butter Enriched flour Past Malt White vinegar |
Non-Food Items That May Contain GM Ingredients:
Cosmetics
Soaps
Detergents
Shampoo
Bubble bath
References:
Natural Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, US Department of Agriculture: Acreage. Click here to download PDF (2009)
Ruth Winter , A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives: Descriptions in plain English of more than 12,000 ingredients both harmful and desirable found in foods, 6th ed. (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2004).
Robert S. Igoe , The Dictionary of Food Ingredients, 2nd ed. (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1989).
Research Triangle Institute, "Economic Characterization of the Dietary Supplement Industry" March 1999. Click here to download PDF
Codex General Standard for Food Additives (GSFA) Online Database of the World Health Organization(WHO) Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) of the United Nations and the reports of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). Available at:http://www.codexalimentarius.net/gsfaonline/additives/index.html
The University of Maryland Medical Center database of supplements by name:http://www.umm.edu/altmed/index.htm
Archives of the Agricultural Research Service of the USDA: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/
Reports of the European Commission Scientific Committee for Food:http://ec.europa.eu/food/fs/sc/scf/reports_en.html
U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH) PubMed Central (PMC): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/
http://www.responsibletechnology.org/gmo-basics/gmos-in-food