On Tue, 29 Jun 1999, Doug Henwood wrote:
> It has been estimated that corn and soy alone are in 70 to 80 percent of
> U.S. processed foods. And since 40 percent of this season's soybean crop
> and 30 percent of the corn crop have been genetically engineered, you are
> probably eating genetically engineered foods, whether you like it, or know
> it, or not.
Just to emphasize that last point, here is an excerpt from Margaret Visser's _Much Depends on Dinner_ on the ubiquity of corn (maize, to Europeans) in American supermarkets. (I include the stuff we can't eat just for its educational and entertainment value. If you get bored, the last sentence sums it all up.)
<quote>
You cannot buy anything at all in a North American supermarket which has been untouched by corn, with the occasional and single exception of fresh fish -- and even that has almost certainly been delivered to the store in cartons or wrappings which are partially created out of corn. Meat *is* largely corn. So is milk: American livestock and poultry is fed and fattened on corn and cornstalks. Frozen meat and fish has a light corn starch coating on it to prevent excessive drying. The brown and golden colouring which constitutes the visual appeal of many soft drinks and puddings comes from corn. All canned foods are bathed in liquid containing corn. Every carton, every wrapping, every plastic container depends on corn products -- indeed all modern paper and cardboard, with the exception of newspaper and tissue, is coated in corn.
One primary product of the maize plant is corn oil, which is not only a cooking fat but is important in margarine (butter, remember, is also corn). Corn oil is an essential ingredient in soap, in insecticides (all vegetables and fruits in a supermarket have been treated with insecticides), and of course in such factory-made products as mayonnaise and salad dressings. The taste-bud sensitizer, monosodium glutamate or MSG, is commnly made of corn protein.
Corn syrup -- viscous, cheap, not too sweet -- is the very basis of candy, ketchup, and commercial ice cream. It is used in processed meats, condensed milk, soft drinks, many modern beers, gin, and vodka. It even goes into the purple marks stamped on meat and other foods. Corn syrup provides body where "body" is lacking, in sauces and soups for instance (the trade says it adds "mouth-feel"). It prevents crystallization and discolouring; it makes foods hold their shpae, prevents ingredients from separating, and stablizes moisture content. It is extremely useful when long shelf-life is the goal.
Corn starch is to be found in baby foods, jams, pickles, vinegar, yeast. It serves as a carrier for the bubbling agents in baking powder; is mixed in with table salt, sugar (especially icing sugar), and many instant coffees in order to promote easy pouring. It is essential in anything dehydrated, such as milk (already corn, of course) or instant potato flakes. Corn starch is white, odourless, tasteless, and easily moulded. It is the invisible coating and the universal neutral carrier for the active ingredients in thousands of products, from headache tablets, toothpastes, and cosmetics to detergents, dog food, match heads, and charcoal briquettes.
All textiles, all leathers are covered in corn. Corn is used when making things stick (adhesives all contain corn)-- and also whenever it is necessary that things should not stick: candy is dusted or coated with corn, all kinds of metal and plastic moulds use corn. North Americans eat only one-tenth of the corn their countries produce, but that tenth amounts to one and a third kilograms (3 lb.) of corn -- in milk, poultry, cheese, meat, butter, and the rest -- per person per day.
<endquote>
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com