Genetically Modified Foods is a topic close to my heart. I completed my Masters thesis on consumers attitudes towards GM foods – The effect of social class and area on the attitudes of Irish consumers towards Genetically Modified Foods. It was concluded that the majority of consumers stated that their concerns about GM foods would stop them from buying GM foods for both Dublin and Limerick. This was also the case for all of Dublin and all of Limerick. Social class did have an effect on Irish consumers mean level of knowledge about GM foods, their concerns about chemical sprays and on their moral views regarding GM foods. Area of residence did not have an effect on Irish consumers attitudes towards GM foods.

Genetically Modified Foods are foods where the DNA has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally. The technology can be called ‘modern biotechnology’, ‘recombinant DNA technology’, ‘genetic engineering’ or ‘genetic technology’. This results in allowing desirable traits i.e. herbicide resistance, pest protection and improved nutritional qualities. GM foods include foods that have an added or deleted gene sequence, animal products produced from animals that were fed GM feed and products produced by GM organisms.

How safety assessment of GM food is conducted: this focuses on 1. direct health effects 2. allergenicity 3. specific components thought to have toxic/ nutritional properties 4. stability of inserted gene 5.  nutritional effects associated with genetic modification 6. unintended effects which could result from insertion of gene.

The benefits of GM foods: These include increased yield, increased resistance to disease, less likely to be damaged by insects, improved nutritional value, increased shelf life, increased climatic survival, increased crop yields, decreased farm costs and increased farm profits.

Criticism of GM foods: These include environmental hazards – unintended harm to other organisms, decreased effectiveness of pesticides. Human health risks – allergenicity, the introduction of genes may create more allergies, unknown effects on human health. Economic concerns – a costly and lengthy process.

Public concern of GM foods: Many consumers accept more readily biotechnology as benefiting their health i.e. medicines with improved treatment potential/increased safety. European consumers confidence in food safety decreased with BSE and other public food safety scares. Consumers questioned the validity of risk assessments – focusing particularly on the long term effects of GM foods.

Future of GM foods: GM advocates are confident that the next generation of GM foods will be even more promising. The current techniques used to introduce genes into plant cells result in random insertion into genome. New techniques have been devised which allow precise insertion of genes into locations in the genome. This avoids the potential unknown effects of disrupting plants normal genome with random integrations. The political pressure from GM critics will remain a powerful source.

My next blog topic will be about functional foods and their benefits 🍇🍅