Traditional and Modern Food Biotechnology

With the increase in the global demand for foodIn the United States and many parts of the
and food products, scientists all over the worldworld, crops and food products such as soybeans,
have been probing the possibility of finding a waycorn, cotton, canola, papaya, and squash produced
to increase crop yields, enhance and improve thethrough biotechnology have become significant
nutritional value and taste, while protecting thecomponents of the people's diet.
environment by reducing the use of chemicalsWhat are the Benefits?
such as pesticides. This is where biotechnologyNutrition: Foods that are genetically engineered or
comes into the picture by providing the requiredproduced through food biotechnology are more
technology to achieve those.nutritious because they tend to contain more
Traditional and Modern Food Biotechnology:vitamin and minerals since they are made from a
Food biotechnology is not a new concept. It hadcombination of select traits that are considered to
already been used long before the term itself wasbe the best.
coined. For centuries, man has been exploitingSafety: Foods from biotechnology are much safer
biology to make food products such as bread,because the possibility of toxin content is almost
beer, wine, and cheese. For example, man hadminimal in comparison to those grown traditionally.
already learnt the method of fermenting fruitThis is because any gene containing toxin or
juices to concoct alcoholic beverages during thesuspected to be toxic is removed during
period around 6000 BC. Traditionally, the mosttransferring and altering of genes.
common form of food biotechnology is theBetter Yield: Food biotechnology seems to
process in which seeds from the highest yieldingincrease crop yields by introducing food crops that
and best tasting corn are grown each year,are more resistant to harsh climates, decreasing
resulting in the better yield year after year.the amount of diseased units, and improving the
The process of obtaining the best traits in foodproductivity of a particular crop etc. This becomes
products became much easier with thevery practical considering the amount of food in
introduction of "genetic engineering" and "genedemand, and consumed globally.
cloning" in modern food biotechnology about twoReducing the need for chemical insecticides: Food
decades ago. Now, by transferring and alteringbiotechnology also opens the possibility of
genes, scientists can remove certain geneticproducing crops that are naturally or self-resistant
characteristics from units and move it into theto diseases and pests. For example, the gene for
genetic code of another, to make them morea bacterial protein which kills insect pests has
resistant to diseases, richer in vitamins andsuccessfully been introduced into a range of
minerals, etc. Food biotechnology has also madecrops, reducing the need for chemical insecticides.
plant breeding safer since single genes can now bePest-protected crops also allow for less potential
transferred without moving thousands, making itexposure of farmers and groundwater to
possible to identify those defective genes or theirchemical residues.
proteins which may be harmful or toxic.