Everyday Foods Lab Report

Investigating if everyday foods are genetically modified.

INTRODUCTION

GMOs are genetically modified organisms, plants are genetically modified to alter their genes and have genes of a desired trait they did not have (Slaughter, 2007). GMO’s are very popular with mass produced crops such as Soybean, Maize, Rapeseed and Cotton. These four crops are the top genetically modified organisms that are mass produced today. Genetically modifying crops can increase crop yield, and reduce the use of pesticides and herbicides, also they can provide nutritional ingredients by improving the quality of food and modifying foods to provide vitamins and vaccines (Slaughter, 2007).

The lab that was preformed screened everyday food items for evidence of Genetic modification (GM). Everyday food items that were tested consisted of a food that is consumed a lot or just would like to be tested for GMO’s. Some of the foods tested had a clear label that stated no GMO’s, there was a total of 19 different foods tested ranging from sauces to pasta.

GMO’s were tested in everyday foods to determine if their where carriers of GMO’s. They were tested

To modify it the slurry was added to two PCR tube’s containing the PCR mix. This PCR mix contained PCR polymerase, extra nucleotide bases, and primers that target the GM gene region and amplified it many of times. Two tubes were used to represent the chloroplast gene (green mixture) and the promoter and terminator gene region (pink mixture). The green mix solution contained primers that will target a plant-food product’s chloroplast gene (rbcla) (Slaughter, 2007). Also the pink mixture targeted the gene insert “promoter” and “terminator” region that will be present if the plant-food product contains a GM region (Slaughter, 2007). After the PCR mix was added the tubes were placed in a thermocycler for making copies for the preferred GM