Tips for Avoiding GMO When Eating Out

Avoiding GMO foods when eating out is quite possible! Check out these tips from Healthy Child Healthy World.

Avoid high-risk ingredients: Avoid ordering meals that contain the most common genetically modified ingredients:

Soy: 94% of the soybeans planted in the US are genetically modified. Avoid ordering any tofu, miso, tempeh, soy sauce or meat/dairy substitutes.

Corn: 88% of the corn planted in the US is genetically modified. Avoid ordering any variety of corn including corn tortillas, tamales, grits, or polenta.

Hawaiian Papaya: According to True Food Network, half of Hawaii’s papayas are genetically modified.

Squash: Several varieties of summer squash have been genetically engineered to resist viruses.

Skip the soda: Avoid ordering soft drinks when eating out. Most sodas are sweetened with High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) and the diet versions are sweetened with aspartame, an artificial sweetener derived from genetically modified micro-organisms.

Go vegetarian: Unless the restaurant offers organic, skip the meat. Although the animal itself is not genetically modified it has most likely been eating GMOs. Look for restaurants that offer USDA Certified Organic meats. According to the Organic Trade Association, animals raised organically cannot have any genetically modified feed and cannot be fed antibiotics, the bovine human growth hormone (rbGH), or any other artificial drugs.

Ask for wild salmon: Although farm raised salmon are not genetically modified yet, they’re swimming in that direction. The US Food and Drug Association recently supported the commercialization of a genetically modified salmon, called AquAdvantage. Produced by AquaBounty Technologies, these genetically modified salmon will have a growth gene that allows them to grow twice as fast as natural born salmon. Since the FDA does not require labeling of genetically modified products, there is no way for you to separate the GM fish from a natural born farm raised fish.

Dine locally: Big chain restaurants tend to order their supplies wholesale from a central supplier. This means the foods that are delivered all over the country need a longer shelf live and have more additives that could be derived from GMOs. Though not all do, local restaurant owners are more likely to source their ingredients locally and they will be more open to discussing it with you. Another plus about eating at a local restaurant is that most will cook meals from scratch and not use packaged mixes or sauces that will be more likely to have GM ingredients. You can learn more about additives and processed foods that may have GMOs at Seeds of Deception. (beware: it’s kind of a depressingly long list.)

Source: Healthy Child Healthy World