Identifying GM foods

[Guest guest]

For those who are trying to clean up their diet and want to avoid genetically modified foods, below is an excerpt of Mercola's newsletter of today which will help identifying traditionally grown foods. Although staying away from processed foods would greatly help in avoiding ingesting harmful food, not everyone is in a position to either grow their own or even has access to organiccaly grown fruit and veg, and has to rely on their local grocery store.

I personally believe that the whole GM area is very much a grey area when it comes to safety.Those scientists in the know speaking out against it are very much at risk of losing their job and professionally discredited, if not worse.An example is the Hungarian scientist (Arpad Pusztai), who publicly revealed the damage to the intestines he had observed in mice after being fed GM potatoes. I believe that most varieties of potatoes now have been modified but I stand corrected if anyone has got info to the contrary

Regards

Hanneke~Australia

 

Read Labels

GM soybeans and corn make up the largest portion of genetically engineered crops. When looking at a product label, if any of the following ingredients are listed there’s a good chance it has come from GM corn or soy (unless it’s listed as organic):

Corn Derivatives

 

 

 

corn flour and meal

fructose and fructose syrup(unless specified non-corn)

 

corn syrup

 

 

malt

baking powder(corn starch is the usual filler)

 

malt syrup

 

malt extract

monosodium glutamate

 

maltodextrin

 

sorbitol

mono- and diglycerides

 

starch

 

food starch

modified food starch

 

confectioner's sugar

 

dextrin

vitamins that do not state"corn-free"

Soy Derivatives

 

 

most miso

soy sauce

tamari

 

textured vegetable protein(usually soy)

 

teriyaki marinades

tofu

soy beverages

 

soy protein isolateor protein isolate

 

tempeh

shoyu

lecithin or soy lecithin

 

many non-stick spraysrely on soy lecithin

 

bread

pastry

margarine

 

 

Mayonnaise and salad dressings also may include lecithin.

As you can see, there are many products that may contain GM soy or corn derivatives (or GM vegetable oil). Some of these products include:

 

 

 

 

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

 

soy sauce

soy cheese

 

 

tomato sauce

 

protein powder

baking powder

 

 

alcohol

 

vanilla

powdered sugar

 

 

peanut butter

enriched flour and pasta

 

 

Non-food items include cosmetics, soaps, detergents, shampoo, and bubble bath.

Aside from corn and soy, other GM foods grown in the United States include cotton, canola, squash and papaya.

Look at Produce Stickers

Those little stickers on fruit and vegetables contain different PLU codes depending on whether the fruit was conventionally grown, organically grown or genetically engineered. The PLU code for conventionally grown fruit consists of four numbers, organically grown fruit five numbers prefaced by the number 9, and GM fruit five numbers prefaced by the number 8.

 

For example:

 

 

Conventionally grown PLU: 1022 Organically grown PLU: 91022 Genetically modified PLU: 81022

In terms of fruit, another strategy is to avoid hybrid varieties, which are fruits that have been altered by humans. Typically hybrid fruits contain more sugar than regular varieties so they taste sweeter and can be picked out because they don’t contain seeds (seedless watermelon, seedless grapes, etc.).

 

Avoid Processed Foods

About 70 percent of all processed foods contain genetically modified ingredients, and the food manufacturers themselves often don’t know for sure whether their products contain GM elements. There are many reasons why processed foods are not optimal for your health--for instance they often contain trans fat, acrylamide and little nutritional value--so avoiding them will not only help you to cut back on the amount of GM foods you are consuming, but will also boost your health.

Hanneke ~ Australia