Food Biotechnology is a process by which foods are created or modified to enhance crop production, nutritional value, safety, and/or taste. These foods are considered genetically engineered (GE), or genetically modified (GM). Genetic engineering modifies the genetic material of living cells to produce new substances or perform new functions. As with most “new” technological advances, genetic engineering has its advantages and disadvantages and is currently a hot topic of debate with regard to the health, and environmental, implications of such foods.
One of the advantages of genetically engineered products is extended shelf life. Tomatoes, for example, were genetically modified to stay firm and ripe longer than regular tomatoes by blocking an enzyme that softens them after they have been picked, resulting in less waste and higher profits. Another advantage of GE products is the improved nutrient composition of foods. Crops can be genetically altered to address the nutrient fortification work generally handled during processing on products such as soybeans. Soybeans may be implanted with a gene to upgrade the soy protein to a …show more content…
What a blessing to be able to yield bumper crops of food, on fewer acres of land, with less loss of water and topsoil and feed hungry people. But, and there is always a but, I wouldn’t want to eat it, any of it, whether or not I have already inadvertently done so, or the FDA deems it safe. Given both the promise and the controversy surrounding food biotechnology and genetically engineered/modified foods, I sit here torn over the ethics behind passing these foods off to somebody else for consumption, even if they are starving, if I wouldn’t want to eat them myself. I do, however, believe strongly in the concept of food biotechnology and the possibilities it offers, and know that in time I will find myself a staunch
One of the advantages of genetically engineered products is extended shelf life. Tomatoes, for example, were genetically modified to stay firm and ripe longer than regular tomatoes by blocking an enzyme that softens them after they have been picked, resulting in less waste and higher profits. Another advantage of GE products is the improved nutrient composition of foods. Crops can be genetically altered to address the nutrient fortification work generally handled during processing on products such as soybeans. Soybeans may be implanted with a gene to upgrade the soy protein to a …show more content…
What a blessing to be able to yield bumper crops of food, on fewer acres of land, with less loss of water and topsoil and feed hungry people. But, and there is always a but, I wouldn’t want to eat it, any of it, whether or not I have already inadvertently done so, or the FDA deems it safe. Given both the promise and the controversy surrounding food biotechnology and genetically engineered/modified foods, I sit here torn over the ethics behind passing these foods off to somebody else for consumption, even if they are starving, if I wouldn’t want to eat them myself. I do, however, believe strongly in the concept of food biotechnology and the possibilities it offers, and know that in time I will find myself a staunch