How do you know if your corn is roundup ready?

[thndrdancr]

I had seen a post on this, regarding someone being asked if their chickens are being fed round up ready corn.

I would like to ask if anyone knows, how does one know if their chicken food has round up ready corn in it, or any bt or gm food in it? I would really prefer to stay away from it, as I have a health condition that I am really beginning to believe was caused from eating this crap in the first place.

So...can anyone tell me how one knows? Does one have to contact the maker of the chicken food? And how does one keep from getting it in their food supply? Thanks much for anyone's help and knowledge.

Jill

 

[kstaven]

Only way to be certain of not getting it is to buy "organic" corn or products with corn in it. Other than that it does not have to be labelled and is likely a GMO corn product.

Just wanted to add that I am fairly sure U.S. product is required to label Non GMO Organic as such. This is required in Canada. I see it on U.S. produced goods imported to Canada anyways.

 

[silkiechicken]

Yeah, I think the only way to avoid GMO stuff is to buy 100% organic... but I'm not too sure about that. You might be able to call the companies to see, but I wonder if even they would know.


As a side note, most human foods are genetically modified with genetic engineering, just that now it's done in tubes rather than in the field. Faster but risker, especially with all the controversy and how you can put in genes not endogenous to the species that were historcially brought out though selective breeding.

 

[SeaChick]

I agree: I think about 99.9999% of corn grown in the US (non-organic) is GMO (not just hybrid, which I am perfectly OK with!)

On the other hand, some small non-organic farmers are still growning non-GMO corn. I know of one poultry farm here in Maine that mixes their own feed using locally-grown non-GMO corn and other grains. The resulting mix is not 100% organically grown, but it is (accorning to them and the farmers they source the grain from) GMO-free. So it's possible, I guess. But certainly easier and probably cheaper on a small scale, to just buy certified organic feed, IMHO.

I hate to tell you this, but you are probably consuming GMOs a hundred times a day without knowing it. It you read "The Omnivore's Dilemma" you will be in for quite a shock at the amount of GMO corn and soybeans Americans consume unknowingly. Every soda or prepared sweet that has high-fructose corn syrup in it contains GMOs, and the corn and soybeans are further processed (using petrochemicals) into far less recognizeable ingredients (that don't even contain the words "corn" or "soybean") that make up the vast majority of ingredients in any processed food. Basically, about 90% of supermarket food contains GMOs, and therefore unless you eat pretty much ALL organic or "whole" unprocessed food, you really can't avoid GMOs. Kinda creepy!!!

We've made the switch ourselves, and although we're not rabid about it (we don't decline food at other people's houses, for example, and occasionally eat at restaurants) we only use organic or "whole" (unprocessed) food at our house. It has increased our food bill slightly, but we've been able to cut that increase by SIGNIFICANTLY increasing the amount of time spent preparing food. By avoiding anything processed, we save money but increase time spent on cooking. And we're lucky to have ready access to some organic processed stuff, like bread and pasta, so we don't have to make those from scratch.

Anyway---- sorry to get off topic on that, but I wanted to point out that unless you're prepared to try to avoid GMOs in your supermarket food, it hardly makes sense to stress out about the GMOs in your chicken's feed. But I encourage anyone to avoid them if you're prepared to make some big changes in your lifestyle! I certainly feel healthier since we've started eating this way. And -guess what?- fresh local food tastes a WHOLE LOT better than pre-made processed stuff, too!

Stacey

 

[FourIsWaltz]

If you want to be sure, test it. It will show the CP4 EPSPS protein in the seed. Grind it up in a little water and use a test strip (EnviroLogix makes some, I'm sure there are others).