The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering approving the first genetically modified animal for human consumption. It's a salmon that has been modified to grow faster than other Atlantic salmon. The company that developed the fish says they are sterile and would be raised in inland pools to prevent their mixing and breeding with wild salmon.
How does that sound to you?
That’s the subject of my next poll, which I'm just putting up until 1pm tomorrow, which is when I have to finish writing the story.
As always, feel free to comment below.
And below are the results from my last poll.
Quite interesting, I thought:
HOW MUCH MORE WOULD YOU PAY FOR LOCAL INGREDIENTS IN A RESTAURANT?
nothing:8 (5%)
less than 10%: 14 (10%)
10%-25%: 76 (54%)
25%-50%: 24 (17%)
50%-75%: 3 (2%)
75%-100%: 4 (2%)
More than double: 1 (0%)
It depends: 9 (6%)
Total votes: 139
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
I thought I'd prime the comment pump a little by posting some responses I got via e-mail from chefs. I’ll leave their names off.
"I don't think that I would serve any genetically modified salmon at [my restaurant. I do believe that we need a sustainable way to farm raise fish because the oceans cannot keep up with human consumption. As soon as the government allows a corporation to patent a method of raising fish there is a certain stranglehold on the fish supply in the future. This makes me think of the corn crop in this country.”
another one:
"I'm not interested in serving "genetically altered" anything in my restaurant. Local, fresh, honest, farm to table as much as possible is our mantra. I think people will pay the few extra cents to make sure they know where their food comes from. Maybe larger chain restaurants will have other thoughts...but that is my feeling."
one more:
"There is no way I would be interested in serving GMO salmon. The eventual damage to the enviroment would be castrophic. Scientist say they have sterilized the gmo fish but eventually one will adapt and destroy the natural process. In test subjects some fish devolped mis-shapened heads and bloated bodies nothing I would like to serve to paying customers. Gentically Modified also bring up the debacle of monsanto's corn; A truly evil company whose corn is spreading and damaging natural corn supplies.
Plus the FDA track record of approval and dis-approved products are suspect at best."
Another interesting aspect of the FDA approval is the decision whether the GM salmon would have to be labeled as such. I'm not interested in eating GM salmon, and hope the FDA, if it approves the salmon, will require labeling. Though I'm not optimistic about that, since informing consumers of GM ingredients in food is not currently required.
Post a Comment