Guess What's Coming to Dinner
Pizza: For each of the ingredient you might find in a pizza, including cheese, wheat, green peppers, onions, and tomatoes, scientists are testing GM varieties. They are modifying rennet, a dried extract used to curdle milk for cheese, to speed the cheese-making process, when used in bleached flour to be more easily digestible and produce greater yields; and green peppers, onions, and tomatoes to stay fresh longer in supermarkets, resist pests, and survive droughts.
Bananas: Scientists are testing several different crops for use as edible vaccines against a host of diseases, including hepatitis, polio, cholera, and malaria. Bananas and other fruits may serve as particularly good storage media for edible vaccines, because their skins provide sterile barriers against contamination.
Coffee: Several biotechnology companies are testing coffee plants engineered to produce coffee with altered caffeine content. If these new coffee beans are approved for public consumption, coffee growers could potentially produce decaffeinated coffee beans, avoiding having to decaffeinate coffee beans after the harvest.
Sushi: Rice is one of the three crops, along with corn and wheat, on which scientist have conducted the most research using genetic modification. In test fields around the world, researchers are planting rice with altered starch levels, pest resistance, and "edible nutrition". Salmon may soon become the first GM fish.
Fruit: Plant geneticists are testing almost any fruit you can think of for GM variety approval. Strawberries, pears, melons, apples, grapefruits, and watermelons with altered sugar content, fruit ripening cycles, and pest resistance may be hitting your local produce aisle soon.
Fries: Potatoes engineered to absorb less oil when fried are currently pending approval by food regulatory boards. Bioengineers are also working to generate high-performance cooking oil such as peanut oil, sunflower oil, and soybean oil, which may allow for healthier fried foods with fewer saturated fats.
Flowers: Petunias may become the first GM flowering plants available to decorate your dinner table.
Corn: Biotech companies are testing corn concoctions that have altered oil profiles, amino acid compositions, seed color, starch content, and ability to tolerate drought.
Bananas: Scientists are testing several different crops for use as edible vaccines against a host of diseases, including hepatitis, polio, cholera, and malaria. Bananas and other fruits may serve as particularly good storage media for edible vaccines, because their skins provide sterile barriers against contamination.
Coffee: Several biotechnology companies are testing coffee plants engineered to produce coffee with altered caffeine content. If these new coffee beans are approved for public consumption, coffee growers could potentially produce decaffeinated coffee beans, avoiding having to decaffeinate coffee beans after the harvest.
Sushi: Rice is one of the three crops, along with corn and wheat, on which scientist have conducted the most research using genetic modification. In test fields around the world, researchers are planting rice with altered starch levels, pest resistance, and "edible nutrition". Salmon may soon become the first GM fish.
Fruit: Plant geneticists are testing almost any fruit you can think of for GM variety approval. Strawberries, pears, melons, apples, grapefruits, and watermelons with altered sugar content, fruit ripening cycles, and pest resistance may be hitting your local produce aisle soon.
Fries: Potatoes engineered to absorb less oil when fried are currently pending approval by food regulatory boards. Bioengineers are also working to generate high-performance cooking oil such as peanut oil, sunflower oil, and soybean oil, which may allow for healthier fried foods with fewer saturated fats.
Flowers: Petunias may become the first GM flowering plants available to decorate your dinner table.
Corn: Biotech companies are testing corn concoctions that have altered oil profiles, amino acid compositions, seed color, starch content, and ability to tolerate drought.