Genetically Modified Food

Tomatoes that remain ripe without rotting, crops that resist weed-killer, cows that produce human-style milk, and fat-free fats — these are just some of the innovations that the food scientists can offer today. However, can these feats of ‘biotechnology’ really benefit our health?

Whatever you want in your food — it seems that the bio-technologists can do it, or will certainly be able to do it soon. They are already promising us cancer-preventing vegetables and red meat low in saturates.

Over thousands of years, crop and anima breeders have tried to improve things like yield, disease-resistance, size, and so on, through selective breeding, but this is a very slow process. Now, there is a much quicker way to alter the characteristics of anything from an apple to a bean to a cow. That way is broadly called genetic engineering or modification, a technology that has as many detractors as enthusiasts.

What is genetic engineering?

Every living organism has a ‘blueprint’ or pattern of genes. Genes contain all the hereditary information needed to give a plant, or an animal, or a human, all its
special characteristics. Until recently, genes have been passed on through each species via normal reproduction. Now, however, scientists know how to remove genetic material from one living thing and insert it into another, thus giving the second species a new characteristic and bypassing natural evolution.

This ‘genetic modification’ (GM) can not only be done from, say, fruit to fruit, but can also cross the species — for instance, tomatoes have recently been given a gene from fish that helps them to ‘stay in shape’ when frozen, and genetic modification has produced a cow with ‘human’ breast milk, which could in the future be used for healthier formula milk.

So far, genetic engineering has mainly been applied commercially in major world crops, such as soya beans, maize, oilseed rape, cotton, potatoes and tomatoes. There are, though, test-growing sites all over the world, including the UK, for a wide variety of other GM foods.

How much genetically modified food are we currently eating?

Although no UK farmers currently grow Genetically Modified foods for sale, the first Genetically Modified food to arrive for sale in the UK, four years ago, was tomato paste using Genetically Modified tomatoes from the USA. Cheese made using a genetically produced enzyme (instead of rennet) has been widely on sale since the early ‘90s. however, 60% or more of the processed food we eat may contain significant amounts of genetically modified soya because Genetically Modified soya beans (engineered to be herbicide-resistant) now comprise over a third of the world’s soya crop — these Genetically Modified soya beans are mixed with traditional soya beans before distribution — and soya is now contained in about two—thirds of all processed foods.

Genetically Modified maize is also being used in processed foods. In the pipeline are Genetically Modified potatoes, rapeseed oil, chicory and other Genetically Modified foods, being tested in trial grounds throughout the UK and the world. Due to public concern, commercial growing of Genetically Modified crops in the UK has been postponed until a review takes place. The truth is that, due to cross-contamination, very small quantities of Genetically Modified foods may be in virtually everything we eat.

What are the advantages of Genetically Modified for food consumers?

Companies promoting GM say that the new technology can have many benefits for the consumer by making food keep fresh for longer, taste better and have a healthier profile. For instance, scientists in the UK have isolated the gene material in broccoli which contains sulphorophane, the anti-cancer agent, and are working on implanting it into other vegetables. They also say that if, as a result of genetic engineering, there will be increased yield and less waste — for instance, through production of pest and weed killer—resistant strains — then there will be more food available, and this should be reflected in price control.

What are Genetically Modified foods’ drawbacks?

Aside from the ethical arguments relating to ‘tampering‘ with nature, one of the main problems is that no one knows what the long-term effects of eating genetically modified food may be, nor of their effect on the environment. For instance, much genetic engineering involves using antibiotic ‘marker’ genes, which, some experts worry, will make antibiotic resistance in humans even more widespread and affect our ability to fight disease. It is also thought that genetic engineering may produce new toxins and allergens, and may decrease nutrient content — for example, weedkiller-
tolerant soya beans have been shown to contain significantly lower levels of beneficial phyto-oestrogens.

Other experts say that, in engineering pesticide—resistant crops, ‘super weeds’ develop (indeed, mutant weeds have been found growing near GM rape crops in Cambridgeshire), leading to the need for even stronger herbicides to kill the new weeds. Risk of cross-contamination is high, as pollen can travel around six miles.

There is also growing concern about weed killer residues on weed killer-resistant crops sprayed with glyphosate (in Roundup from Monsanto, one of the largest multinationals involved), linked with negative effects in humans, animals and plants. Despite this, permitted residue levels have just been increased.

How easy is it to avoid Genetically Modified food?

Unfortunately, it is quite hard. In September 1998, Regulation 1139/98 came into force in the UK, requiring manufacturers to label all foodstuffs containing GM Monsanto soya or Novartis maize. However, according to the independent Food Commission, up to 90% of foods containing Genetically Modified produce will NOT be labelled, due to the regulation’s shortcomings and many loopholes. The EC’s consumer affairs department has said ALL processed food will have genetically modified food in it, even if only in tiny amounts, because of cross-contamination and the inability of manufacturers to be 100% sure crops they buy are Genetically Modified —free.

Because of this, the EU is currently due to set a legal ‘tolerance level’ below which manufacturers and shops can declare a product Genetically Modified -free — this is likely to be 2%. Meanwhile, virtually all major food chains in the UK have voluntarily declared that they won‘t sell GM products due to public concern. However, this still won‘t overcome the problem of cross-contamination.

lf you wish to avoid genetically modified soya, the only alternatives currently are to read all the labels and to avoid all produce containing soya, or choose organically grown soya and soya products, as the Soil Association, which monitors organic standards, has strict rules to minimize cross-contamination.

Soya is found in a wide variety of processed foods, including confectionery, margarines and spreads, mayonnaise, cakes, breads, biscuits, gravy, soups, stock cubes, meat dishes and many more. Genetically modified tomato puree is labelled on the front of the pack as such.

What official safeguards are there?

Currently the UK Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes has to give a safety evaluation to all novel foods before they are allowed on sale. Some foods are considered ‘novel’ enough to qualify for a full safety evaluation before being allowed on sale; others may come under a category described as ‘Substantial Equivalence’ which, briefly, means that they are indistinguishable from the conventional product and therefore have a ‘fast track’ route to approval and need not be labelled.

In May I998, the Novel Food Regulation came into force, providing a ‘European-wide framework of statutory controls’. In the UK we now also have the Food Standards Agency responsible for all aspects of food safety and the new Human Genetics Commission, to advise on gene technology and its impact on humans. There are also several independent lobbyists, such as the Food Commission, Sustain and Friends of the Earth, working hard to ensure that our food is, and remains, safe to eat.

Other food innovations

‘Progress’ is being made in other areas of food research without the application of genetic engineering. For example, plant breeders in Wales are using a variety of rye grass very high in the essential fatty acid linolenic acid to feed to cows and thus help promote milk that is lower in saturated fat than normal. Cows at another English research station are being fed a diet high in heat-treated soya and rape seeds, which also results in milk high in unsaturated fat. In the USA, a device has just been patented which will kill virtually all food poisoning bugs in a millisecond without harming the food, and scientists at the UK’s Institute of Food Research have pinpointed fruits and vegetables which can protect against E. coli.

Functional foods

Functional foods are those that claim enhanced health properties or nutritional benefits. Recently launched have been bread containing soya that is said to reduce hot flushes in menopausal women; and a fermented milk drink which claims to increase the ’friendly’ gut bacteria, i.e. it is pro-biotic.

Several foods now have added ‘omega-3 oils’ and claim to help reduce heart disease; and in 1997 a cereal snack bar said to help prevent cancer because of its added isoflavonoids and lignans was launched. Hundreds more similar products appear annually.

Nutritionists are often sceptical about these products. They may work, but it is believed that, as with some vitamin and mineral supplements, the ‘active ingredients’ would be better eaten as part of the food in which they naturally occur.

For example, omega-3 fish oils in fish, lignans in natural Iinseeds, and so on. In other words, the benefits of food are best enjoyed in as natural a way as possible.

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