now you most likely keep an eye on sugar contents and other unhealthy ingredients
that you need to eat in moderation but how many of you watch out for
genetically modified foods most probably not many of you for most this won't be
an issue but if you live in the u.s. there's a good chance that at least some
of your food has been genetically modified stay tuned the number one to
find out which item you thought would be completely natural is actually
genetically modified
number ten Kanoa developed through conventional plant breeding canola was
developed by breeding rapeseed which has been in use for millennia and was even
used as fuelled by many ancient civilizations the first genetically
modified version was originally bred by University of Manitoba Canada by Keith
Downey and Balder R Steffensen during the 1970s that strain was called Roundup
Ready canola developed to have a tolerance to glyphosate this was done by
introducing two genes the first called agro bacterium which is a common soil
bacterium with a gene from the accra bacterium and Troy strain L baa which
honestly won't mean much to most of us surprisingly
a whopping 90% of us canola crop is genetically modified number 9 potatoes
nearly all of us will be familiar with the hardy potato that has been a stable
part of our diets for thousands of years but did you know that some strains have
been genetically modified the potato was first domesticated in modern-day
southern Peru between 8,000 and 5000 BCE it was first introduced to Europe
following the Spanish conquest of the Incan Empire and since then and has been
introduced to all corners of the world an estimated 382 tons of potatoes were
produced in 2014 with the People's Republic of China producing the most at
ninety-five point five million tonnes in recent years genetic researchers have
produced several genetically modified varieties of potatoes the new leaf
potato was genetically modified to resist attacks from the Colorado potato
beetle but was unsuccessful in making a dent in the market so sales were
discontinued in 2001 in more recent years the USDA approved a modified
potato the innate potato which contains genetic modifications that reduced or
prevented bruising although these have gone into circulation the food and water
watch petition McDonald's a major consumer of potatoes to not use this new
strain of potato thankfully McDonald's agreed so if you eat McDonald's
Frye's at least you don't need to worry about consuming this particular
genetically modified food number eight eggplant eggplant also known as
abbiejean has been cultivated in southern and eastern Asia since
prehistory strangely the planets also played a role in Italian and Egyptian
folklore in the 13th century Italy and 19th century Egypt the plant was liked
to cause or have increased levels of insanity among the populace the
genetically modified version of the eggplant is also known as BT brinjal and
was created by inserting the crystal protein gene taken from the bacterium
bacillus thuringiensis to make it resistant to pests it works by enabling
the plant to produce a toxin that kills the worms that devastate crops this
strain of the eggplant is only cultivated in Bangladesh but as it is
only a recent phenomenon it's too early to judge its success number 7 papaya
papaya is native to Mexico in northern South America but has since been
introduced to Florida California Hawaii and other tropical and subtropical
regions like India it turns out that only the female plants are used for
cultivation though as the male plants provide poor quality fruit in 2014 India
produced 44% of the world's total estimated at 12 point 7 million tons
which is a lot of papaya but it hasn't been an easy ride for the plant papaya
production was hit with a deadly virus that nearly wiped out the entire world
crop the virus known as the papaya ringspot first hit the crop in Hawaii in
the 1940s and within 50 years had spread to nearly every area that grew the crop
regardless of whether you agree with genetically modified food industry or
not if it wasn't for the Hawaiian born scientist
Dennis Gonsalves we wouldn't be able to feast on this delicious fruit today his
creation known as the rainbow papaya was designed to be resistant to the virus
and has ensured a stable ANSYS stainable income for the people of
Hawaii as well as the other places it's grown it is clear that genetically
modified papayas have helped to ensure its continued availability today so
maybe not all genetically modified foods are bad number 6 soybeans humans have
been cultivating soybeans for thousands of years the earliest evidence for
domesticated soy was found in China and dates back to between 7,000 and 6600 BCE
but other parts of East Asia such as Japan and Korea also domesticated as far
back as 5000 BCE and 1000 BCE respectively introduced from China to
North America in 1765 by the East India Company today the US grows 32 percent of
the world's total soybean production so why is it classed as a genetically
modified food well as with many other crops scientists and businesses are
always seeking for ways to improve crops and increase profits soybeans were
originally genetically modified using the genetic engineering techniques
because manufacturers wanted to attempt to grow soy at a minimal cost and to fix
problems in the growing process however since then they have found that they can
modify the crop to contain healthier components the first genetically
modified soybeans were introduced into the US market in 1994 and since then a
total of 93 percent of all soy is believed to be genetically modified
number 5 sugar beet grown commercially for sugar production the roots of the
sugar beet plant contain a high level of sucrose the modern version of sugar
beets date back to around the mid 18th century which is fairly recent in
comparison to some other examples on this list the King of Prussia Silesia
was known to subsidize experiments aimed at extracting the sugar from the plant
by 1840 only around 5% of the world's sugar production came from sugar beets
but it soon spread around the world and the first attempted cultivation of the
crop in the u.s. occurred in 1836 however it was
cessful after further unsuccessful attempts it wasn't until 1870 that the
first successful sugar beet factory was being built in the United States the US
was also the first country to genetically modify sugar beets of course
by engineering them to be resistant to glyphosate several studies have found
that glyphosate-resistant sugar beets contain the same nutritional value as
conventional sugar beets and in 2011 about 95 percent of sugar beet crops
were planted with the resistant strain of the seed number for squash you might
be surprised to learn that there are two genetically modified varieties of squash
available in the US markets squash has been present in the Americas long before
the arrival of humans surprisingly the earliest known evidence for domesticated
varieties of squash date back nearly 8,000 years ago a variety of Cucurbita
which is the family that squash is found in was a major food source for the
native people of the Americas long before the first European contact and it
remained an important food source in the following centuries it was even featured
during the first Thanksgiving the two varieties of squash that have been
genetically modified are the green zucchini and the yellow summer squash
and both have been available in the US since the 1990s they have been
genetically modified to be resistant to several viruses like the cucumber mosaic
virus the yellow mosaic virus and others but don't worry the chances you're
eating genetically modified squash is relatively small as only 25,000 acres of
the vibrant resistant GMO varieties are grown in the u.s. today yet that does
mean someone's eating it number three Apple's most of us would
have eaten or at least seen an apple during our lifetime
they have been cultivated for millennia and have even played a crucial
methodological role in various cultures such as ancient Greece European
Christianity and Norse traditions today tis grown worldwide and in 2014 the
total production of apples was 80 4.6 million tonnes with China making up the
most of that in recent years cultivators have
utilized biotechnology to genetically modify apples Artic apples is the name
given to a group of apples that have been genetically modified to contain nan
browning traits it was one of the first foods to receive a trait solely intended
on pleasing customers because nobody likes eating a brown apple many American
and Canadian citizens distrust genetically modified foods and the
cultivators of the Arctic Apple had been quick to highlight that the apple has
undergone gene slicing biotechnology instead of having genes from different
plants or animals added to it with the first cells being made sometime
earlier this year we'll have to wait to see how successful it's been
number two honey you'll likely be surprised to find honey on this list at
all as it's a pretty natural ingredient bees have been making honey for
approximately 200 million years and it's highly probable that humans ate wild
honey before they involved into anatomically modern humans like you or I
modern humans have been exploiting honeybees for nearly nine thousand years
and later domesticated them giving them an endless of live honey and wax so how
on earth is it a genetically modified food well bees collect nectar from
numerous flowering plants but they don't know which ones are organic and which
ones have been genetically modified as a result when a bee takes nectar from a
genetically modified crop it unknowingly transfers it to their honey so how can
you guarantee your honey is GMO free well it's a hard thing to find if you
live in America an estimated 95 percent of corn and soy in the US is believed to
be GMO and because bees roam far and wide around bee farms it's difficult to
ensure the honey they produce doesn't contain genetic modifications if you
don't want to get honey from bees that have been kept in large cages or
containers you'll have to shop around to get honey from other countries where it
can be guaranteed the bees haven't been feasting on GMO foods number one salmon
it's not just plants that have been genetically modified and in 2015 the US
FDA approved genetically modified aqua advantaged salmon for commercial
production humans have been studying the life history of salmon since the 14th
century but it wasn't until the 18th century that fertilization test took
place in Germany and later in the 20th century the first salmon farms were
established in Norway and Scotland since then scientists and fish farmers have
been trying to increase production in recent years accompanied aqua bounty
farms produced a genetically modified salmon that grows almost twice as fast
as conventional salmon not only do they grow quicker but they are also more
resistance to the disease and the cold and they even require 10% less feed
during their lifetime now that is a clear business success in 2015 the FDA
approved this fish for commercial consumption and it has since been sold
to Canadian customers with increasing demands on natural fish populations and
concerns about declining wild fish communities perhaps genetically modified
fish is the way forward what's your opinion of genetically modified foods
would you eat them tell us what you think about the genetically modified
foods we talked about in the comments below and don't forget to subscribe for
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