The Food and Drug Administration is in charge of making sure our food is safe and of good quality for us to eat. It seems to me, they might be slacking a bit. "The FDA list approximately 2,800 international food additives and about 3,000 chemicals that are deliberately added to our food supply" (Blatt). These are unnecessary ingredients in our diet. Most of which have unknown long-term side effects. Yet the FDA continues to allow our food to be contaminated with these ingredients.
One might argue that since the ingredients are listed; it is the responsibility of the individual to be aware of what they are consuming. I am all for this argument since by law, all food products have to be labeled, right? Wrong again. "You could, in theory, select from a trattoria menu a meal of roast aubergine [eggplant] followed by polenta and tomato sauce, and then salmon served with fried potatoes, followed by a fruit salad- every item, including the oil, pepper and horseradish sauce, having been genetically engineered. and none of it would be labeled" (Ticciati). Do not be fooled into thinking the FDA does not have loopholes, every organization does. I would suggest that one does their own research, reads their own labels, and makes an educated decision for themselves. The FDA means well, but at the end of the day it is just a job.
Sources:
Blatt, Harvey. America's Food: What You Don't Know About What You Eat. Cambridge: Mass MIT Press, 2008. Print.
Ticciati, Laura. Genetically Engineered Foods: Are They Safe? You Decide. New Canaan: NTC Contemporary, 1998. Print.
Picture Source:
www.30pov.com/2010/19/the-hunted-carrot/
