See all the GMOs you may already be eating
Chipotle announced Monday that the chain will no longer serve food containing genetically modified organisms (GMO), raising the bar for transparency in the United States, where there’s no requirement to indicate the presence of GMO ingredients on food labels or in restaurants. Likewise, biotechnology companies aren’t required to report which genetically modified seeds are used in production.
Yet the use of GMOs is undoubtedly widespread. Since GMOs were approved for commercial use, and then first planted into U.S. soil in 1996, their production has increased dramatically. More than 90% of all soybean cotton and corn acreage in the U.S. is used to grow genetically engineered crops. Other popular and approved food crops include sugar beets, alfalfa, canola, papaya and summer squash. More recently, apples that don’t brown and bruise-free potatoes were also approved by the FDA.
It's also instructive to look at permits granted by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — the American GMO gatekeepers, together with the Environmental Protection Agency – though it's important to note that not all the issued permits are for crops that are approved for commercial use.
To produce crops commercially, biotech companies apply for "deregulated status", the green light from the USDA to plant and distribute without restriction.
The bar chart below shows all deregulated crops, sized by the number of genetic varieties approved for each. The ten crops in green are currently produced in the United States, and described in detail in the list below.
This site is very interactive.
