Daily Food & Ag Digest
Every day, the staff of the Genetic Literacy Project scours the Web for stories on a range of agricultural and food issues, including the GMO debate, conventional and organic farming, regulations, new breeding technologies and sustainability. We publish excerpts of those stories and encourage our readers to visit the original publications for the complete stories.
Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat success spurs Chinese firms to develop plant-based meats
While China is no stranger to food using vegetarian ingredients to give a meat-like flavor, the buzz around Beyond Meat ...
Biofortified CRISPR-edited rice could help battle global vitamin A deficiency
Genome editing could be an alternative approach to improve the vitamin A content of crops, according to a study by ...
Sugar-free sweetener derived from GMO yeast could hit grocery stores in 2020
Cargill Inc. and the Dutch ingredients giant Royal DSM this week began churning out a new sugar substitute that mimics ...
Tree planting can help slow global warming, but it’s no panacea, climate experts say
.... There’s room to plant enough trees, albeit many, many, many trees, to counter a big chunk of the planet-warming ...
How a genetically modified morning glory was almost the 2020 Olympics mascot
Sebastian Cocioba, a 29-year-old college dropout and self-styled “plant hacker,” has lived there with his parents for the past decade ...
First plants that moved from water to land were natural GMOs, research reveals
Natural genetic engineering allowed plants to move from water to land, according to a new study by an international group ...
Soybean designed to grow on exhausted pasture land could help protect Amazon rainforest
The agrichemical giant Syngenta wants to go green by developing specific varieties of soybeans to be grown away from the ...
Leaked document suggests EU may relax its strict CRISPR-edited crop regulations
The European Commission plans to create specific legislation to facilitate the production of genetically edited crops, following the July 2018 ...
Pesticide importers threaten lawsuit to block Thailand’s glyphosate ban, warning of serious economic impacts
Importers of three toxic farm chemicals, which are set to be officially banned from Dec 1, have vowed they will ...
Ghana’s parliament gives GMO crops a boost
Ghana’s parliament has approved regulations that open the door for the country to commercialize genetically modified (GMO) crops. The regulations ...
Nanosensor detects trace amounts of chemicals, helping farmers cut pesticide, fertilizer use
Good things come in small packages. Sadly, so do bad things. That’s where Iowa State University’s (ISU) Department of Mechanical ...
5 things plant-based meat makers can do to win consumer acceptance
Kerry, after completing proprietary consumer research this year, has identified five key issues that food companies should address when formulating ...
Anti-pesticide group As You Sow, food industry spar over glyphosate sustainability
San Francisco-based shareholder advocacy group As You Sow rated 14 major food companies on what—if anything—they’re doing to address the ...
Access to plant genetic data sparks conflict between rich, poor countries trying to breed climate-resilient crops
Ahead of renewed negotiations to revise a global treaty in Rome on [November 11], rich and poor countries are at ...
French Parliament: 2022 glyphosate ban falls off track as widespread weed killer use continues
IS FRANCE’S GLYPHOSATE EXIT PLAN ON TRACK? A French parliament report, published on [Nov. 13], suggests not. President Emmanuel Macron ...
Redesigning photosynthesis in key crops could help sustain global food production, study shows
Scientists have solved the structure of one of the key components of photosynthesis, a discovery that could lead to photosynthesis ...
AquaBounty seeks overseas expansion, anticipating global demand for GMO AquAdvantage salmon
For more than two decades, AquaBounty has been developing its genetically modified AquAdvantage salmon, which the company plans to grow ...
EPA wants scientists to share their data: Will it promote government transparency or threaten public health?
"The Trump administration is preparing to significantly limit the scientific and medical research that the government can use to determine ...
Paraguay approves GMO drought-tolerant soy, fourth major producer to green light biotech crop variety
The Ministry of Agriculture of Paraguay authorized the commercial release of seeds that better tolerate drought conditions, developed by Indear ...
Viewpoint: Don’t overpay for greens labeled ‘non-GMO’—because there’s no genetically modified lettuce
Have you ever eaten genetically modified arugula? We’re positive you haven’t — because it doesn’t exist! But that hasn’t stopped ...
Marketing stunt? Some restaurants sell Impossible, Beyond Burgers without telling customers they’re meat free
How do you get die-hard meat eaters to try a plant-based burger? You trick them. The rise of meatless meat ...
Ancient Egyptians loved beer. Here’s the recipe they used to brew it
The ancient Egyptians loved beer. According to Mohamed A. Farag, a Professor of Chemistry at The American University in Cairo: ...
Purple GMO tomato with boosted antioxidant levels could lead to more nutritious produce
Chinese researchers have developed a genetically modified purple tomato rich in anthocyanins, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Read ...
Food safety officials reject Golden Rice-cancer link as Philippines inches toward commercializing the GMO crop
GOLDEN RICE, developed by biotechnologists to address Vitamin A deficiency, is still in the process of completing field trials before ...
Tyson Foods’ plant-based ‘chicken’ nuggets now sold in 7,000 stores
Tyson Foods Inc. says plant-based nuggets from its Beyond Meat Inc. competitor Raised & Rooted are now in 7,000 stores, ...
UK could tackle sustainability challenges post Brexit with GMO crops, farmer’s union chief says
Boosting the use of genetically modified crops in the U.K. after Brexit could be “enormously beneficial,” according to the National ...
Monsanto’s GMO soybean as safe as conventional counterpart, EU Food Safety Authority confirms
Following the submission of application .... from Monsanto (hereafter referred to as ‘the applicant’), the Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms ...
