Leaving well enough alone There's a whole new food chain on the horizon and I'm a little afraid of who -- or what -- is going to end up at the bottom of it. Genetically modified (GM) foods are cropping up (no pun intended) in some forms you probably wouldn't expect, like the cereals and snack foods already sold in most supermarkets. In fact, according to one source I read, more than half of the packaged foods on the market contain GM ingredients. Basically anything that contains high-fructose corn syrup, soybeans, and/or cottonseed or canola oil likely contains genetically modified ingredients. Of course, most products containing these things have been processed beyond recognition as it is, and are things we'd all be healthier staying away from anyway. But the most recent addition to the Frankenfood family is one that could affect even the non-GM foods we eat. Scientists have genetically engineered plants that can produce fish oils. The thought behind these experiments is that feeding animals the fish-oil-producing plants will result in meat that has more omega-3 fatty acids. Which, in itself, isn't a bad thing: Omega-3s are critical components of good health -- from your brain to your heart to your joints. So my objection here isn't with boosting omega-3 intake. It's with the incessant need the food industry seems to have with "fortifying" our foods. And what makes this particular instance of fortification especially disturbing is that since it's occurring further down the food chain, chances are good that manufacturers and meat packaging plants won't have to reveal on the label that the animals were fed GM food. Which means it could get a lot harder for us to keep genetically modified products out of our own bodies. The fact of the matter is that if you eat meat that has been raised in an organic, free-range, grass-fed environment, it automatically has a higher omega-3 fatty acid content than meat from commercially raised animals -- without "help" from genetically modified feed. Sources:
"Scientists harvest fish oil crop," BBC News (www.news.bbc.co.uk), 11/16/07
"Are biotech foods safe to eat?" WebMD Medical News (www.mywebmd.com), accessed 12/4/07 | 
