Know What Green Food Is (and Grow It)

One of the tenets of Green Gardening is to grow your own herbs, fruits and vegetables. When doing so, it’s important to use heritage seed that hasn’t been genetically altered in order to grow Green food.

Green Food is food that hasn’t been altered genetically. Genetically altered food is grown from seeds that have pesticides and herbicides (some are viruses used as pesticides and herbicides) which are inserted into the DNA of the seed. Many scientist (usually those who don’t work for the industries involved in putting the DNA of viruses into the DNA of food seeds) think this could be dangerous.

And frankly, personally, I’m not interested in eating food with pesticides, herbicides or viruses in them. However, I suspect that often we have no choice when that information is not divulged.

Here is some important information about some foods available at your grocery stores, which you should know:

Fruits and vegetables have something called a PLU code (i.e. secret code) which you will need to know to learn how your food is grown and whether it has been genetically altered. 

A recent study demonstrated, when we humans digest foods that have been genetically modified, the artificially modified genes transfer into and alter the character of beneficial bacteria in human intestines.

According to some studies, gene transfer of similarly genetically engineered agricultural crops surrounding native species has created highly resistant species now called superweeds. This has dire consequences. As engineered genes are spreading among and altering other other organisms in the environment, it proves an inter and intra gene species transfer mechanism. It is obvious that enetic engineering is dangerous.

Before you read how to tell what has been done to your food, keep in mind, while fruits and vegetables are marked for the way they are grown and whether or not they are grown from genetically altered seed, that is only for first generation altered seed. While the food, in theory, is marked for whether or not they have been genetically altered, foods which come from genetically altered foods or a second generation seed, and subsequent foods made from genetically altered foods do not have to be marked as genetically altered foods. As canola is genetically altered, but oil is made from it, the oil does not have to be marked as made from a genetically altered food.

Here’s how to tell sometimes, what has been done to your food and how it is grown or treated:

For conventionally grown fruit, (grown with chemicals inputs), the PLU code on the sticker consists of four numbers.

Organically grown fruit has a five-numeral PLU prefaced by the number 9.

Genetically engineered (GM) fruit has a five-numeral PLU prefaced by the number 8.

For example, for conventionally grown fruit, read on:

A conventionally grown banana would be:

4011

 An organic banana would be:

94011

 A genetically engineered (GE or GMO) banana would be:

84011

The numeric system was developed by the Produce Electronic Identification Board, an affiliate of the Produce Marketing Association, a Newark, Delaware-based trade group for the produce industry.

As of October 2001, the board had assigned more than 1,200 PLUs for individual produce items.

Incidentally, it has been said that the adhesive used to attach the stickers is considered food-grade, but the stickers themselves aren’t edible. Hmmm.

How to tell if food has been irradiated:

As part of its approval, FDA requires that irradiated foods include labeling with either the statement “treated with radiation” or “treated by irradiation,” along with the international symbol for irradiation, the Radura.

Irradiation labeling requirements apply only to foods sold in stores.

For example, irradiated spices or fresh strawberries should be labeled.

Irradiation labeling does not apply to restaurant foods. Foods with smaller amounts of irradiates foods in them do not have to be identified.

Source: Excerpted from FDA/CFSAN Food Safety A to Z Reference Guide, 2007

The Radura symbol (meaning irradiated food) - is a broken circle with something that looks like a leaf and a sun or a flower in the center.

This entry was posted on 16. January 2010 at 17:03 and is filed under Sustainability Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.