The battle over labeling genetically modified foods

Californians will soon vote on a proposal to label genetically modified foods. Why is the food industry panicked?

Workers sort through apples at Crunch Park: The company has asked the U.S. to approve its genetically modified apples, which don't brown when sliced.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Shannon Dininny)

What is genetically modified food?

It comes from a plant or animal that has been genetically manipulated, usually by adding a gene from another organism, to give it desirable traits that can't be achieved through normal breeding. Since the first such genetically modified organism — the slow-rotting Flavr Savr tomato — was brought to market, in 1994, the GMO sector has boomed, and now an estimated 70 percent of processed food in the U.S. contains ingredients from crops altered in the lab to make them hardier, more resistant to disease and pests, and more tolerant of herbicides. You almost certainly consume GMO food all the time: 88 percent of the corn and 94 percent of the soy grown in the U.S. is genetically modified, and GMO crops are used to make the high-fructose corn syrup in soft drinks and the hydrolyzed vegetable protein in everything from soup mixes to salad dressings.

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