Go organic, do your homework to avoid GMO foods

Genetically-modified foods sit on supermarket shelves largely unnoticed because those foods do not have to be identified on the label or in the ingredient list as genetically modified.

A growing number of folks believe it's time that changed.

Genetically modified seeds can be and almost always are created in a laboratory using genes that can come from bacteria, viruses, insects, animals and even humans.

Don't be confused by the sly deceit of some publicity equating hybrids with genetic modification. True hybrids have always been created by selection or crossbreeding. The only similarity between the two processes: both produce plants that have been, until that point, unknown in nature.

Europeans eschew the growing and importation of GMO foods. They require GM foods to be labeled as such. Do they know something we don't know?

According to the Center for Food Safety (truefoodnow.org) the four major sources of GMO foods in the American food supply are corn, soy, canola oil (rapeseed) and cotton (from which cottonseed oil is refined). Sugar beets (where we get refined sugar) recently joined the GMO rank. While that may seem like a small list, its impact is far reaching.

Let's take a closer look at one GMO food: corn.

Ears of corn plucked from the field can become corn flour, cornmeal, corn oil, cornstarch, corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup as well as sweeteners such as fructose, dextrose and glucose.

Those products can then end up in baby food, breakfast cereals and bars, baked good, frozen pizzas (cornmeal in the crust; corn syrup in the sauce), soups, sauces, condiments and salad dressings, snack chips, energy bars, candy and soda, just to name a few. The corn also can be fed to cows on feed lots, which is where "you are what you eat eats" generates concern.

If you want to avoid GMO corn on your next trip to the store, choose processed foods with the USDA's green certified organic symbol. If corn's on the ingredient list you can be sure it's not from a modified source since USDA rules state that GMO ingredients don't qualify for organic status.

Be aware that some product may proclaim "made from organic ingredients" without the official USDA symbol. These products can legally contain up to 30 percent nonorganic ingredients.

Since corn can be turned into sweeteners, look for products sweetened with cane sugar as opposed to refined sugar. Look for the words: "made with 100 percent" cane sugar, or evaporated cane juice.

If you want to avoid the other GM foods, do as you would for GM corn. If you want a shopping guide that can tell you what conventional products may have GM components, and those that don't, head to nongmoshoppingguide.com.

Try this recipe: Warm weather's finally hanging around. Time to fire up my grill and bring out tasty and healthy side dishes. A Southern friend of mine shared her recipe for a barbecue sauced macaroni salad. I was skeptical, until I tried it. Great flavor notes, low in fat and tough to beat.

Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe makeover requests. Write him at don@theleanwizard.com.

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<li><a href="/story/?id=379595" class="mediaItem">Barbecue Macaroni Salad </a></li>

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