4.3: Analyze Ingredient Label for GMO Ingredients
Biotechnology is the use of biological agents for technological advancement. Biotechnology was used for breeding livestock and crops long before the scientific basis of these techniques was understood. Since the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953, the field of biotechnology has grown rapidly through both academic research and private companies. The primary applications of this technology are in medicine (production of vaccines, antibiotics and treatments and the detection of diseases) and agriculture (genetic modification of crops, such as to increase yields or make crops resistant to pests or pesticides/herbicides). Biotechnology also has many industrial applications, such as fermentation, the treatment of oil spills, and the production of biofuels.
The ability to add or modify genes in an organism is powerful technology. Recombinant DNA technology involves using laboratory methods to join together DNA from multiple sources or organisms. Genetic engineering is the alteration of an organism’s genotype using recombinant DNA technology to modify an organism’s DNA to achieve desirable traits. The addition of foreign DNA in the form of recombinant DNA vectors generated by molecular cloning is the most common method of genetic engineering. An organism that receives recombinant DNA is called a genetically modified organism (GMO). The introduced DNA causes the genetically modified organism to make the foreign protein. If the foreign DNA that is introduced comes from a different species, the host organism is called transgenic. Bacteria, plants, and animals have been genetically modified since the early 1970s for academic, medical, agricultural, and industrial purposes. Biotechnology in agriculture can enhance resistance to disease, pest, and environmental stress, and improve both crop yield and quality. As reported by the FDA , in the US in 2018, about 94% of soybeans planted, 95% of canola planted, 99.9% of sugar beets (to make granulated sugar) planted, 94% of all cotton planted, and 92% of the corn planted were genetically modified organisms. More than half of the granulated sugar on grocery store shelves is made from GMO sugar beets. Therefore, GMOs make up a large portion of some common processed foods.
Exercise 2: Analyze Ingredient Label for GMO Ingredients
Materials needed
- Food labels for analysis
Use the questions below to analyze the ingredient label that you brought to the lab.
Questions for Review
- A genetically modified organism makes a ________ that the organism would not normally make.
- Is your food labeled as organic?
If the answer is yes, then according to organic food standards, this food would not contain any GMO ingredients.
- Does this ingredient label contain any components of soybean, corn or canola?
- If the answer is yes, then according to the previous statistics, this food likely contains GMOs.
- If your food contains genetically modified corn, what specifically does that mean about the corn, and what exactly about the corn has been changed?
- Would eating GMO foods have an effect on human DNA?
- Discuss both positive and negative ways that GMO crops could possibly impact the environment.