A new survey conducted by Research Co. has found that young Canadians aged 18 to 34 are more likely to be willing to pay a premium for food that is organic or free-from genetically modified organisms (GMO).

Of the 1,000 people involved in the survey, 41 per cent said they would not pay a higher price for organic food. The proportion increases to 57 per cent among people aged 55 and over, but decreases to 41 per cent among those aged 35 to 54. Only about one-quarter (23 per cent) of younger Canadians aged 18 to 34 said they wouldn’t pay more for organic food, according to the survey.

The survey found similar results regarding non-GMO food, with 31 per cent of people expressing their unwillingness to pay a premium for free-from GMO food. The proportion is higher (38 per cent) among those aged 55 and over and similar (31 per cent) among those aged 35 to 54 and lower (22 per cent) for those aged 18 to 34.

Pairwise to sell mustard greens as salad leaves

The biotech company, Pairwise, has announced that it will soon bring mustard greens produced using new genetic engineering (New GE) techniques to the US market. The plants are genetically engineered with the aim of making the leaves less pungent, and the company has also applied for a patent (WO2021030738). According to a 2022 publication, New GE was used to alter 17 genes in the plant genome in parallel.

Meat Substitutes and Health

"Plant-based meat alternatives are not created equal," agrees Mark Hyman, MD, founder of the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Functional Medicine. A whole-food organic mushroom or lentil burger is good for you, he notes, but "a highly processed GMO soy burger with 110 times the glyphosate needed to harm your microbiome? Maybe not."

Not only does the glyphosate used on GMO soy appear to harm the gut microbiome, it's been deemed a likely carcinogen by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer. Research also suggests that glyphosate can trouble our endocrine systems.

Newer meat substitutes contain other dicey ingredients. "[A popular fake burger] contains pea-protein isolate, which is a processed pea protein, so it is stripped of many nutrients," says functional-medicine practitioner Liz Lipski, PhD, CNS, LDN. "The canola oil doesn't state that it's organic, which means it is GMO."

Justices Mohammed Warsame, Ali Abida Aroni and John Mativo said the application by the government lacked merit

The state had suffered a similar fate at the High Court before seeking redress at the Court of Appeal

Litigants opposed to the government bid include lawyer Paul Mwangi, Kenya Peasants League, and Biodiversity and Biosafety Association of Kenya

As the European Commission gets ready to unveil its new proposal to widely deregulate the new generation of genetically modified organisms (new GMOs) or so-called New Genomic Techniques (NGTs), the debate is heating up.

So far discussions mainly focus on how risky or safe new GMOs are, or could be. However, the question that is at least as important for farmers, food processors, food retail and consumers, is that of how new GMOs must be labelled.

Unceded Algonquin Territory – Ottawa, ON – February 16, 2023

Today Liberal and Conservative members of the House of Commons Environment Committee voted to remove Senate amendments requiring meaningful public participation in assessments of genetically engineered (GE) animals and an evaluation of whether there is a ‘demonstrable need’ for such an organism.

“We are dismayed that the government and official opposition have blocked strong, clear guidelines for meaningful public participation, which is a foundational part of any review and approval process in a democracy,” says Mark Butler, Senior Advisor with Nature Canada. “We are concerned at the overly pro-industry stance being taken by government MPs, which is not coherent with strong government commitments to protect Nature and the public interest.”

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The new U.S. agriculture trade chief on Thursday told Reuters that he has given Mexico until Feb. 14 to respond to a U.S. request to explain the science behind Mexico's planned bans on genetically modified corn and glyphosate herbicide.

Doug McKalip, the U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) new chief agricultural trade negotiator, said that Mexico's response will help the trade agency decide next steps in its quest to resolve a long running dispute over Mexico's biotechnology agricultural policies.

After just two harvests of genetically modified (GM) salmon from its facility in Prince Edward Island, U.S.-based company AquaBounty is changing up the business model for that location.

While it will continue to raise GM salmon at its Rollo Bay facility, it will focus on salmon broodstock and egg production, the company told SaltWire Network in an email.

February 7, 2023, Charlottetown. In a major turn-around, the US company AquaBounty says it will stop producing its controversial genetically modified (GM or genetically engineered) Atlantic salmon in Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada.

“This is a huge victory for everyone in PEI and across Canada who protested against this dangerous technology,” said Sharon Labchuk of the coalition GMO Free PEI. “Genetically modified fish are unnecessary and risky.”

AquaBounty has decided it will no longer produce GM fish in Canada, after rasing just two “cohorts” of its GM salmon at their only Canadian production site, on land at Rollo Bay, PEI. This facility was the world’s first purpose-built GM fish factory. The decision was reported in the seafood industry media SeafoodSource, quoting the company’s CEO, Sylvia Wulf.

Company's US patents are now being challenged. Report: Claire Robinson

The European Patent Office (EPO) has revoked an EU patent held by Impossible Foods, maker of the Impossible Burger. In the US, Impossible's fake meat products are manufactured with GMO yeast-derived soy leghemoglobin, a controversial ingredient that makes the fake meat look as if it's bleeding, like undercooked real meat, and that we have argued may not be safe to eat.

Following the EPO's decision, another fake meat company, Motif FoodWorks, has filed a suite of new petitions with the US Patent and Trademark Office challenging US patents held by Impossible Foods over the use of heme proteins (such as that present in soy leghemoglobin) in meat alternatives, as it defends itself against Impossible's accusations of patent infringement, according to Food Navigator USA.