FUD IZ SRS BSNS.

My dear fellow food adventurers,

I've already stated that I'm in the process of changing my diet to exclude GMOs and the food additives that are derived from them. I'd just like to take a moment to explain why, and what all this means.

I was super excited when I saw my number of page views roll over to 10,000 -- that's something I never imagined would happen when I first started this blog. Back then, my only readers were my two vegetarian sisters. I can't help now feeling a sense of responsibility to everyone who visits Vegetablog to be as honest and helpful as possible.

Most of us don't even realize it, but the average grocery store is becoming a scary and confusing place. I've heard differing statistics, but they say that somewhere around 70-80% of the processed foods on the store shelves contain genetically modified ingredients. That's huge. Pick up any packaging for a non-organic food and you are likely to find a long list of chemicals and stuff you don't recognize or understand the purpose of. A lot of it comes from genetically engineered corn and soy. Over 80% of the corn and soy grown in the US are GMOs. Many other countries have banned or restricted GMO production and imports, and have mandatory GMO labeling on foods. Our country does not.

You might be thinking, Why should I be concerned? If they sell it as food, it must be safe, right?

For most of my life, I believed that too. But no, not necessarily. A lot of chemicals and even "natural" ingredients have been introduced into foods in the past and later deemed to be unsafe.

Genetically modified crops have had part of their DNA replaced with DNA from another organism (bacteria, viruses, animals, or other plants) in order to produce a desired effect (drought tolerance, pesticide resistance, herbicide resistance, pesticide production, tolerance to crowding, etc.). It is not equivalent to the techniques farmers and gardeners have used for centuries to cross-breed plants. These plants are things that would never occur in nature. And often, there are unintended consequences.

The "studies" conducted on animals to determine the safety of genetically engineered foods are funded by the companies who engineered the food, and they use any means necessary to manipulate the data in their favor. There are no long term human studies. And if that weren't enough, there are employees of these huge, multinational companies in the FDA and USDA, making our food safety decisions for us!

If you do a little googling or follow some of the links I posted in my previous entry, you'll find some scary, real, independent studies done on these foods, and news articles about farmers and their livestock getting sick. These foods may be slowly poisoning us, contributing to higher rates of cancer, diabetes, obesity, food allergies, infertility, and general illness.

Now I'm getting a little worried. But what can I do if most foods contain GMOs? How do I even know if the products I just bought are safe?

There are things you can do. First, buy organic if you can. Any food that is labeled certified organic cannot be produced through genetic engineering. Second, some companies are also now voluntarily labeling their products as "Non-GMO Project Verified", "Contains no genetically engineered soy", or similar. Third, read the ingredients list. Some ingredients that are red flags: high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, corn starch, food starch, any soy that is not listed as organic or non-GMO, aspartame, canola/rapeseed, cottonseed, and many more. Buy whole foods: vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, and herbs, or grown your own. You can tell your grocery store manager and the companies who make your favorite products that you don't want to eat franken-foods. You can get involved in anti-GMO activism and work toward getting all foods labeled.

This is a lot to take in. I don't know if I can let go of some of the processed foods I know and love. I don't have time to cook and bake. Organic food is expensive.

I hear you. It is a lot to take in, and it's a really big change. Organic food can be a lot more expensive -- sometimes two or three times as much as conventional food -- but organic farming is not subsidized nearly as much as non-organic farming. And without all the added flavorings, sweeteners, and preservatives, it can taste quite different than what we're used to, so it takes some adjustment. If it makes it easier for you, introduce organics and non-GMO foods into your diet gradually. Even substituting some of your regular food purchases with organic will be better for you, your family, organic farmers, and the planet.

I would never have known about any of this had I not been forced to watch the documentary "Food Inc" in my nutrition class and consequently been inspired to start researching the matter myself. I knew there was some shady business going on in the food industry, but I was blissfully unaware of the nature and extent of it. I knew just enough to be convinced a little over four years ago to stop eating meat products, but I completely took for granted that everything else was fine to eat.

What does this mean for Vegetablog? Are you just gonna preach at us from now on? If so, I'm not interested.

Nah. From now on, I'll try to keep the preaching to a minimum. I just wanted to get this all off my chest, and provide a new foundation for the blog and where it's going. I want to start reviewing organic foods and vegetarian products, report on my from-scratch cooking and baking experiments that are soon to come, as well as tackle the immense and complicated topic of eating at restaurants. I hope that you'll still find Vegetablog worth reading as it moves on to even bigger food adventures.

Your friend in food,
jazzhands