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Genetically modified foods have altered DNA to provide benefits to producers or consumers. Common modifications include herbicide and insect resistance, increased yield, and improved nutritional value. GM animals face more resistance than GM plants, but some, like salmon, are being considered for approval. Hard cheeses often use genetically modified microorganisms in production.
Genetically modified foods are produced from plants or animals whose deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) has been changed in a way that does not occur naturally. Individual genes are often transferred from one organism to another, even when the organisms are unrelated. Scientists manipulate genes to create two types of genetically modified foods: those that give a benefit to the producer and those that give a benefit to the consumer. Traits that benefit the grower are insect resistance, viral resistance, increased yield, or decreased time to maturity. Foods can be modified to make them more attractive to customers, by making them stay fresher longer or by giving them greater nutritional or medicinal value.
A common modification made to plants is to give them the ability to tolerate a herbicide that kills any other plant. This allows the GM crop to grow without having to compete for space, nutrients or light. This modification is commonly made to soybeans and canola. The herbicide resistant gene is removed from the bacteria and added to the GM crop.
Another common alteration is to engineer crops to emit toxins that kill pests. Sweet corn is a food commonly engineered this way, which means farmers don’t have to spray sweet corn with insecticides since corn is insect resistant due to its borrowed genes. This genetically modified food is called Bt corn, because the gene that kills the parasites comes from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. Potatoes are another example of genetically modified foods that produce insecticides.
Other foods have been genetically modified to be more palatable to consumers. Strawberries, peppers, bananas, pineapples and tomatoes have been modified to stay fresh longer. Scientists have also worked on engineering genetically modified foods to make them more nutritious. Golden rice is one example: Rice has been modified to add vitamin A. Scientists have worked to produce foods that not only have extra nutrition, but also have pharmaceutical value, such as vaccinations.
The concept of GM animals has met with more resistance than that of GM plants. Many countries have approved the production and sale of GM plants, while demanding more research on GM animals. One GM animal that is being considered for approval in the United States is GM salmon. These salmon have an extra gene for growth hormone, which allows them to grow twice as fast as unmodified salmon.
Hard cheeses are another type of food that commonly uses genetically modified organisms in production. The cheese is traditionally made with rennet, an extract from the stomach of cows. The enzymes used to make cheese can be produced by genetically modified microorganisms. In industrialized countries, most hard cheeses use the enzymes of these genetically modified microorganisms.
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