Food Bioengineering: 3 Things You Should Know About

Have you ever walked into a grocery store and felt overwhelmed by the number of product choices available to you? Technology today has provided an astounding amount of choices for consumers with options like organic or free-range. You can even buy fake meat, made to look real.

But when you think of the phrase “you are what you eat”, it can be difficult to know what exactly it is you’re eating.

Food bioengineering has been around for some time, but how exactly does it work? Let’s explore 3 need-to-know facts about the concept and how it is applied.

1. Definition

To begin, what is the definition of food bioengineering? Per the United States Department of Agriculture, bioengineered food is “food that contains genetic material that has been modified through certain laboratory techniques.”

This means the DNA of the organism in question has been modified in some way. Growing of these food types is regulated at federal levels, with oversight from various agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

2. Common Food Products

You may already be familiar with certain bioengineered food products. A lot of what you see on the grocery store shelves today has been genetically modified. Soy is a common engineered food product found in many forms.  Foods like corn and alfalfa have been genetically modified to contain genes that make them resistant to certain herbicides.

Another common modified food is zucchini. Commercially available zucchini generally contains genes that protect against viruses. A few additional common foods listed under the bioengineered umbrella:

• Certain apples
• Cotton
• Eggplant
• Pink pineapple
• Papaya
• Sugarbeet

These foods, along with any others that carry a bioengineered label, must be disclosed as bioengineered by those entities that carry them.

3. Important Labels

Genetically modified foods are carefully tested and regulated. In general, labeling requirements differ from country to country. In the U.S. specifically, manufacturers are now required to disclose genetically modified ingredients on food labels.

Labelling GMOs on food products became standard in 2016, when the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard law was passed by Congress. This law got passed in an effort to provide more transparency to consumers about food safety in regards to bioengineered food products.

This law essentially requires that foods containing more than 5% of bioengineered ingredients be labeled via text on the food packaging, as a symbol, or as a scannable electronic. It allows consumers to quickly pick out if a product has been genetically modified or not.

Food Bioengineering Is the Future

The food that we produce and eat has the ability to improve not only the health of humans but the health of the planet as well. Our ever-growing population has put a significant strain on the production and consumption of food agriculture. Food bioengineering has allowed us to create items that are resistant to drought, pests, herbicides and even provide increased yields.

While the regulations of bioengineered foods are complex and nuanced, one thing is for certain. Knowing where the ingredients we consume come from and what they are is a good thing.

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