What GE foods are on the market?

Applications for marketing a rapidly increasing number of GE foods are being submitted to governmental agencies. The numbers already on the market vary from country to country.

NOTE: All these crops and plants and all the products derived from them may, in the worst case contain some unexpected, undetected harmful substance

The most common genetically engineered foods in the world are presently:

  • Soy and its derivatives including soy flour and soy oil (sometimes sold as oil for cooking without specification of its source). Soy is very common in processed foods, bakery, meat products and pet food.

    Look out for the ingredients: soy protein, soy lecithin, soy oil, soy sauce, soy isolates. Soy is also common in infant food. Unless this food is organic, there is a considerable risk that it comes from GE sources, as a large part of soy is genetically engineered today.

    Soy is also used as animal feed. If feed contains a harmful substance, it may appear in considerably higher concentrations in the meat than in the feed.

  • Corn is also a common GE food. You can expect to find GE corn in for example Corn Flakes, corn oil, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, corn starch, corn meal and other cornbased foods. Any of these products derived from corn may, in the worst case, contain some unexpected and undected harmful substance generated by genetic engineering.

    Corn is also used widely as animal feed.

  • Canola (rapeseed), used most commonly as oil for cooking and in margarines and "lean" butter substitutes. It is also used extensively in baking.

    In addition, the following GE vegetables, crops and plants have been approved for commercial use in the US by the end of 2005 (which was the latest update by january 10, 2007):

  • Alfalfa
  • Tomato
  • Potato
  • Rice
  • Cantaloupe
  • Sugar beet - (all kinds of sugar)
  • Radicchio
  • Flax (linseed)
  • Papaya
  • Squash
  • Oilseed rape, in some cases called Canola oil
  • Wheat.

    In the United States, GE foods are now common on the market. Because labeling is not required in the US, it is difficult to avoid these foods in this country unless one only eats organically grown food.

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