Genetically modified food quietly arrives in the cooking oil of a restaurant



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NEW YORK (AP) – Somewhere in the Midwest, a restaurant is frying foods with gene modified soybean oil. That's what comes out of the company that makes this oil, which says it's the first commercial use of a gene-modified feed in the United States.

Calyxt said it could not reveal its first customer for competitive reasons, but CEO Jim Blome said the oil was "in use and consumed".

The Minnesota-based company hopes the announcement will encourage the food industry's interest in the oil, which contains no trans fat or longer shelf life than other soybean oils. It remains to be seen whether demand will increase, but the transition of oil to the food supply indicates that genetic engineering can alter foods without the controversy of conventional GMOs or genetically modified organisms.

Other gene-modified crops explored include mushrooms that do not brown, wheat with higher fiber, more productive tomatoes, herbicide-resistant canola, and rice that does not absorb soil pollution during its growing season. growth.

Unlike conventional GMOs, which are made by injecting DNA from organisms, gene editing allows scientists to modify traits by cutting out or adding specific genes in a laboratory. Start-ups, including Calyxt, claim that their crops are not considered GMOs, because what they do could theoretically be achieved with traditional crossbreeding.

So far, US regulators have agreed and indicated that several crops under development containing modified genes do not require special monitoring. This is in part why companies see great potential for gene-modified cultures.

"They have been stimulated by the regulatory decisions made by this administration," said Greg Jaffe of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a health monitoring group.

Jaydee Hanson, of the Center for Food Safety, said that regulators should consider the potential implications of each new crop, given the many possibilities for using gene editing. He cited the example of producing a modified gene for not browning.

"You've designed it to stay longer." Are there any problems with that? he said.

Already, the majority of corn and soybeans grown in the United States are GM herbicide tolerant. Just last week, regulators broke through the hurdle for GM salmon to grow faster. Fish is the first genetically modified animal approved for human consumption in the United States.

Although regulators claim that GMOs are safe, health and environmental concerns persist and companies will soon have to disclose when their products contain "bioengineered" ingredients.

Calyxt says its oil can not be considered a GMO. The oil is made from soy with two inactivated genes to produce more healthy fats for the heart and no trans fats. The company says the oil also has a longer shelf life, which could reduce costs for food manufacturers or give more durable products.

Soybean oils were a hit when regulators decided to ban oils containing trans fatty acids. Other soy oils without trans fat have been available since, but the industry has struggled to recapture food manufacturers who already used different oils, said John Motter, former president of the United Soybean Board.

According to Calyxt, the first customer is a Midwest company that has many restaurants and eating places, such as cafeterias. The client used it in salad dressings and sauces and for frying, but did not specify whether the benefits of the oil were communicated to the customers.

Calyxt works on other gene-modified crops that she says are faster to develop than conventional GMOs, which require regulatory studies. But Tom Adams, CEO of biotech company Pairwise, said that monitoring of gene-modified foods could become stricter if the public changed attitudes.

"You should never think regulation is settled," Adams said. Pairwise is working with Monsanto's parent, Bayer, on the development of gene-modified cultures.

The views on the editing of genes also vary. The National Organic Standards Board said that foods made with gene editing could not be considered organic. And last year, the highest court in Europe said that foods modified by a gene should be subject to the same rules as conventional GMOs.

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Follow Candice Choi to www.twitter.com/candicechoi

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The Health and Science Department of the Associated Press is receiving support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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