Genetically Engineered Sugar on the way to the Grocery Store Shelves

GE Sugar from GE sugar beets is scheduled to hit the market this year. One company that plans to use the GE sugar is Kellogg. When asked to not use the GE sugar, Kellogg replied that consumer's don't care if their food is genetically engineered. They obviously haven't been listening to consumer opinion lately.

While it's best to avoid processed foods altogether, if you do eat them, avoid the Kellogg brand.

It's also important to know that there are already genetically engineered ingredients in processed food on the grocery store shelves. In fact about 70% of the processed foods on the market contain GE ingredients.

The ingredients most commonly genetically engineered in processed foods are derived from corn, canola, soy and cotton. If you see any ingredients like corn starch, corn gluten, corn oil, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, or any ingredient that contains corn in the name, there is a high probablity that it's genetically engineered. It's also highly likely that the canola oil, soy oil and cottonseed oil on the package are GE as well. All soy ingredients are suspect too. Additives like hydrolyzed soy protein, soy protein isolate, soy protein concentrate, soy lecithin, soy sauce may all be genetically engineered.

Genetically engineered ingredients are not labeled in the U.S. The only way to be sure that any of these ingredients are not GE is if they are organic.

For help checking the safety of ingredients in your packaged foods, get a copy of FOOD ADDITIVES: A Shopper's Guide...