GMO Answers breaks it down for you...
Bioengineered may be a new term for many consumers, but it is honestly a much better term for the 10 “GMO” crops commercially available today in the U.S., as well as the few other crops currently in production, though not yet available for purchase, or already commercially available in other countries. (Read the full list of bioengineered foods at AMS.USDA.gov)
The acronym GMO literally stands for “genetically modified organism.” While “GMO” is the most commonly used term for crops bred through transgenesis, the breadth of this term has been creating a good deal of confusion for the average consumer who may not have a deep understanding of farming or food production. After all, in the 1900’s roughly 40% of the U.S. workforce was involved directly in agricultural production. Today that number is just 2%.
The term “GMO” creates confusion because virtually everything we eat has had its genes modified in some way, whether through very traditional plant breeding processes or through more modern means of seed breeding. The four main methods of seed improvement used to create the foods we eat today include:
- Selective breeding, which humans have been doing for thousands of years. Bananas, broccoli, and citrus all come from selective breeding.
- Hybridization/cross-breeding, which humans have been doing for over 200 years. Seedless grapes and watermelons are created this way, as are most apples and all that produce that sounds like hybrids – pluots, tangelos, etc.
- Mutagenesis for seed improvement started in the 1920’s. Mutagenesis uses radiation and other mutagens (physical or chemical) to induce random mutation in plants, activating new, desirable varieties, like the deep color and signature flavor of Ruby Red grapefruits.
- Transgenesis, which is what people typically mean when they talk about GMOs. Transgenic crops have precise, limited genes added or silenced through bioengineering to achieve a beneficial outcome, like reduced food waste through non-browning or significant, positive environmental impacts through herbicide tolerance or pest resistance.
What these four seed improvement techniques all have in common is that genes in the food change—they all have been genetically modified at some level. Some modifications happen in the thousands (mutagenesis) and some are limited to 1 or 2 genes (transgenics).
This means that “GMO” or “genetically modified” is simply too vague of a phrase to talk about one type of breeding technique, potentially referring to any or all of them. “Bioengineered” or “BE” gets much closer to the foods consumers are actually trying to learn about – transgenic crops or the foods, fuels, and fibers derived from them.
Read more from GMO Answers here.