There has been talk for years over the development of a new genetically modified potato. Now, the USDA recently gave the green light for one of the worlds largest agribusinesses to create a GMO potato that produces fewer carcinogens than non-GM potatoes when fried. Simplot, the company responsible for its future creation, will soon be putting these GMO potatoes on dinner plates across the United States unless the decision is reversed. So how will you know if your potato is genetically modified or not?
As mentioned, Simplot’s GM creation will be engineered to produce less of a carcinogen (75% less) which normally forms when potatoes are fried or heated. But that isn’t all these ‘super potatoes’ will be able to do. They will also be modified to bruise less easily and to not turn brown for many hours after being cut (see picture below).
The potatoes reportedly underwent ‘successful’ field trials in 8 states between 2009 and 2001: Florida, Indiana, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin. And of course, Simplot claims they are safe:
“This approval comes after a decade of scientific development, safety assessments and extensive field tests,” said the Idaho-based Simplot, which annually processes about 3 billion pounds of potatoes.
While the idea of creating a food which is said to produce less of a carcinogenic chemical is not a terrible one, it all comes back to this: what implications will this man-made creation have on human health, the environment, and the ecosystem as a whole? Will this GMO potato simply add to the already abundant negative effects GMOs have on the environment as a whole?
Simplot reassures the public that the method in which these potatoes are created aren’t nearly as ‘alarming’ or ‘aggressive’ as techniques used by other companies, such as Monsanto. There are no bacteria or genes from other plants used, only DNA from the potatoes themselves.
But we aren’t convinced that tampering with mother nature in such a way is a good idea. Doug Gurian-Sherman, a plant pathologist and senior scientist at the Center for Food Safety, told the New York Times:
“We think this is a really premature approval of a technology that is not being adequately regulated.”
The organization says that the RNA interference technique used for Innate is untested, and said that one of the substances suppressed by it actually plays an important role in the chemical make-up of the potato and its ability to fight pests. Will these potatoes lead to a further increase in the already 800 million pounds of pesticides sprayed on our food – pesticides which can’t be washed off?
As expected, the Center for Food Safety says that it plans to appeal the USDA approval. So maybe we’ll see a reversal.
Where the GMO ‘Innate’ Potato Will Likely be Served
Simplot plans to use the new genetically modified creation’s benefits to target the market from multiple points. For both the public and restaurants alike, the increased life of these potatoes will be a big sell. What’s more, the spuds will be sold as a healthier alternative, and will also be supplied pre-cut to supermarkets and restaurants, due to the fact that they remain pristine-looking for longer.
Because of these touted benefits, the vast majority of restaurants across the United States will likely source their potatoes from Simplot. That is to say, just about every potato dish in restaurants will be made from GMO potatoes. This will likely be the case with supermarkets as well.
“This could be a game-changer for the industry!” boasted Kerwin Bradley, Simplot’s director of commercialization.
One place you can undoubtedly expect to find the Innate potatoes will be the mega fast food giant, McDonald’s. Simplot supplies more than half of McDonald’s potatoes in the U.S., and has been doing so for decades. So now in addition to the low quality, harmful ingredient-riddled food found at McDonald’s, the ever-so-popular french fries will likely all be made using GMO potatoes.
In light of this, the Food and Water Watch group is already sending a petition signed by over 100,000 people asking McDonald’s to ban all Innate potatoes.
How to Avoid the New Genetically Modified Potato
So what do you need to do to avoid these creations? In addition to never eating food from McDonald’s and avoiding potato-based foods in restaurants, there are 3 primary ways you can bypass Innate GMO potatoes:
Look For Products Labeled 100% Organic:
- United States and Canadian governments do not allow companies to label products 100% organic if they contain genetically modified foods.
Look For “Non-GM” or “GMO-Free”:
- When searching for potatoes in a health food store that supplies organic produce, just look for signs indicating that the potatoes are organic and non-GMO. Many packaged products represent the NON-GMO Project verified seal, but in this case you’ll need to look for as many indicators as possible.
Read the Labels:
- Conventional Fruit Labels: Begin with the number 4, and never begin with the number 9.
- Genetically Modified Fruit Labels: Begin with the number 8. Note that it begins with 8, not just contains the number 8. This is often a 5 digit number.
- Organic Fruit Labels: These fruit labels always contain 5 digits, and begin with the number 9. Always check and make sure, as some “organic” products have been known to be deceptively labeled.
Will the new Innate potatoes make the top 10 worst GMO foods for your GMO foods list? Hopefully we won’t find out.
Additional Sources:
Reuters
The mythical #8 on plu codes is just that, a myth. If and when GMO potatoes do end up in grocery stores, there won’t be any magical labeling to warn you.
Bad decision Simplot…and of course the public was not notified that you were field testing in those states I’m sure. I buy organic because I want to limit chemical exposure. I will continue to do so.
Sadly America does NOT require GMOs to alert or inform the consumer of the fact that it is GMO. Furthermore, advertising allows the use of the word “organic” as a adjective to describe flavor…. *meaning you will never know what is GMO, pesticide free, or organic until America changes the laws to force labels to tell us the truth of what we are buying.
Why the Hell don”t they leave our food Alone??? Jesus Christ !! Don”t these Azzholes have enough money? This is nothing but a way to kill people . It”s called Population Control.They should STOP screwing around with our food.
Mggie, Just thinking out loud–If the intent is slow-kill population control, no amount of cursing, moaning or complaining will put a dent in this hideous behemoth. There will have to be a unified, boycotting, collective force to meet their momentum and slow down this plague on the planet. We are still lambs facing wolves – rapacious, mendacious, relentlessly aggressive wolves. Act accordingly. You may not be in Iraq but we’re all in a war zone, as you pointed out. If you don’t like that term put it this way: We are all being OFFENDED. The offense and defense are both very hot on Kauai and Maui right now. Maui just (narrowly) PASSED a people’s initiative to place a moratorium on knowingly growing any further GM plants until safety studies are done. The biotechs operating on Maui sued the county the next day, as they planned of course. Their strategy now and in the past is to drag counties through courts using legal tactics such as motion to overturn or to dismiss, etc. to try and bankrupt the county in defending itself.
I think they are selling them already in South Africa too!!!!
Seriously, there is nothing we can do to educate everyone in the masses about these dangers. The reality is that the people of the world will never team up to fully boycott GMO foods because they are not open minded enough to do so. You know about this. I know about this. And the food producers know about this. The choice is up to you, yourself and your family, to not consume these toxic, deadly foods. Everyone else is considered a profitable “useless eater” as far as the BioAgri companies are concerned. I cannot even get my sister to go organic at home because it is “too much trouble” for her when grocery shopping, and this is why both of her kids are sick with serious GI tract problems. I hate to say this, but I will most likely outlive my younger sister, as well as my niece and nephew (her kids).
I never thought my mom would jump on board; in fact, I am surprised I have! I put my mom’s dogs on a raw diet, etc…no more bag dog food! She and I watched her dogs get healthy. I made changes as I was learning how to feed my dogs (and continue learning and I make more and more changes). I am off all my allergy shots, steroid based nose spray AND anti-histamine! As my mom and I were at the store today, she asked, “How do I know which foods are not GMO’s, have pesticides and Gluten?” LOL She and I did our very best learning how to shop! It is sad that she is almost 70 and I am 47 and are so clueless how to shop and eat right. You all are educating people and I hope you don’t get discouraged. Please keep up the great work! Heck, even many dogs are eating better now! 🙂
how do you make the dog food? I mean, is there any place I can get some recipes? I will really like to know so I can give it to may dog (he is 14 years old!! amd ‘kiking’!
Completely agree, our industry leaders find more ways to hook and poison Americans than any other country. Perpetuating the addiction to not only empty calories but a financial stream direct in right into the pockets of America’s Elite.
Eat naturally if it’s not good for you donate it don’t modify it to make your body accept it better.
The produce items that I always buy organic are apples and potatoes. I already do not eat at McDonald’s, but that is because it does not fit in my lifestyle to do so – now I will consciously avoid it if it somehow becomes an option. Who knows if the organic potatoes I purchase really will be organic and not GMO? California already outlaws raw almonds, yet encourages grocers to label pasteurized almonds as “raw”. I guess we can only do our best. It’s pretty hard to have faith or trust in this society.
I bought raw almonds in Los Angeles farmer’s market last year -home grown. (this market is right in front of the SCIENTOLOGY building and they only open in Sundays.
this means they are already in the markets. THEY ARE ALREADY IN SUPERMARKETS.. THE SAME IT WAS THE SALMON WHEN THEY TOLD US, it was six months to one year later.
There is no GMO salmon for sale yet and no GMO potatoes grown, harvested and for sale in stores or fast food joints. No need to make up drama but be aware of the situation as it goes along.
sorry you are wrong there has been salmon for at least two years. I am not sure about potatoes yet.
no, there is no GMO salmon for sale. Not for the last two years or at any time.
Go to your local library and rent “Black Fish”. Costco, Sam’s Club and every grocery store is full of “farm raised” atlantic salmon. It is not GMO but close to it. Full of antibiotic, hormones and other garbage. You can recognize farm raised by the wider bands of white in the fillet. Wild salmon has very narrow bands.
Glad to read that you know the difference between a farmed salmon and a not-on-the-market GMO salmon. Was there a point in your comment that I missed?
How would you know?
because it has not been approved for commercial release to date and hopefully it never will be.
the worse yet is that are trying to ‘buy’ European government to allow GMO’s in theri food without telling people there. Some countries and people don’t even know what is about.
I only buy organic potatoes and I won’t eat them in restaurants because there’s a 99% chance that restaurants won’t serve org. potatoes.
I think the best way to deal with this GMO issue is to go after the other food companies that have the GMOs and are fine with that. Pick a company ,let’s say Kraft. No more Kraft. They want to use GMOs then forget them. I think this is an easier way to do it. I don’ think they will be backing Monsanto when they are being done in. You would still have a bunch of other options and the other companies would take notice.
All the governments of the world have only one goal in mind: to maim and kill as many people as possible w/ drugs, chemicals, GMOs and the pollution of the Air , Water, Ground & Sea…most people are uneducated and don’t really care where their food comes from as long as it is cheap. An .89cent brownie mix from your local supermarket is not healthy. It has been heavily processed w/ chemicals. One that costs $3.00++ and more that is labeled Organic is healthier for you as it doesn’t have dangerous pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and virucides in it. ORGANIC is simply the way to go and if you don’t want to pay double for your Organic Food and buy crap, you will suffer, so shop around and you can find pasta, vegetables, chips, and fruit for similar prices that you pay for conventional bullshite food! Buy Organic as much as possible. Ultimately, all the tainted food we eat at Fast Food Restaurants and elsewhere makes us fatter, is tainted and is full of chemicals which in the long run cause heart disease, vein problems, prostate issues, cancer, headaches, obesity, etc. Its your body. Its your choice. WE ARE WHAT WE EAT! EAT HEALTHY! Don’t make compromises to your health as, “without your health, you have nothing.”
Price does not determine the “healthiness” of foods; labelling should be taken with a grain of salt. Also isn’t so-called organic vegetables and fruits grown with the same polluted air and contaminated water? Won’t they eventually mix with the GMO stuff via the birds and bees?
Good questions Dave. Does anyone know the answer?
I honestly don’t know. I’m not a Scientist! But there is a difference in price and the beauty of eating an Organic Apple that doesn’t rot and develop mold in it from sitting is priceless!
GMO fruits begin to rot from inside out not the other way around, that non-gmo & natural not modefied fruit do.
yes, but how do you know? if they keep changing all natural foods into GMO’s, yesterday salmon, today potatoes…
A vast majority of the populace wants GMO food labeling yet we rarely see it. Just one piece of proof that the corporations run the government rather than the citizens.
The CEO of Simplot lives in Cauldwel, Idaho, I used to live there, he is in love with money, and all the prayers in the world is not going to change his view on GMO.
Why doesn’t someone develop an app you can use to scan a produce item that would tell you where it came from, then we can boycott all this frankencrap and other processed stuff in our food mausoleums?
HEy Sue! That is a great idea. Let’s work on that and promote it.
There is a free app called BUYCOTT I use it on my android and it works.
can I USE IT WITH iphone 5? I don’t know much about this, but I will really like to find out and to get it.
Yes, 5 will work even faster. Look for the free version because some sites charge. Good luck.
Yes, download it from iTunes.
Trusting a company with Monsanto’s record with the food that you and your family eat is like letting Jeffrey Dohmer watch your kids for the day.
Much info on Monsanto http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Monsanto
Also how natural medicine got railroaded.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Medical_Association
Our food and environment is truly being created in someone else s image.
Author “The Art of Debt Guerrilla Warfare, how to beat debt collectors when your back is against the wall.”
This is important; because your body cannot digest the GMO potato.
I stopped eating potatoes 20 years ago. This is even more reason not to start again…
when they give the GREEN LIGHT is because we already have them for months.. the same for salmon, and other foods. when they tell us, we already have been eating them.
Nope, you are still wrong on the salmon issue. The AquaBounty franken fish is still not approved for consumption.
I absolutly agree. most people don’t know anything about GMO’s and they don’t care because they DO NOT UNDERSTAND what is GMO and how affect our bodies, our health, our lives and our children IF WE CAN HAVE THEM, BECAUSE THERE IS AN EPIDEMY OF INFERTILIGY if before was one in 1000 today is 1 every 10 women or men tha are infertil.
Does this include sweet potato
i couldnt have put it better myself maggie