| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
Oil She Wrote
On canola oil |
Umbra Fisk |
24 May 2006 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, I recently saw "organic canola oil" on a salad dressing bottle. I looked up the origin of canola oil, and it looks like it is a genetic modification of rapeseed. I thought organic certification disallowed genetically modified foods. What's the scoop? Tom Grundy Nevada City, Calif. Dearest Tom, Have you noticed yet that May is food month here on floor 2B? Food and plants, in honor of spring -- and to counter last month' ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, energy, food and agriculture, GMOs, organic food (all these topics) |
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Fruit Scootin' Boogie
On odd fruit |
Umbra Fisk |
16 Dec 2004 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, Yesterday in the grocery store I saw a "golden kiwi." Is there really such a thing? It was over twice the size of a regular kiwi and the familiar fuzz was not there. It was almost as smooth as a nectarine. When I inquired of the produce representative, she told me that it was a "natural" unaltered fruit and that I could taste it if I wanted to. Naturally, I declined. I am very leery of this strange new f ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, food and agriculture, GMOs (all these topics) |
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Soy Story
On the environmental impacts of soy |
Umbra Fisk |
18 Nov 2004 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, I'm interested in learning more about the treatment and genetic modification of soy and how prevalent this is. I think a lot of folks choose products such as soy milk because they think they are making a better choice for the earth, as well as themselves. I think this is an overlapping issue and qualifies for your help. Perhaps a slant toward educating us on the state of soy farming and production would be an acc ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, food and agriculture, GMOs, toxics (all these topics) |
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PLU Perfect
On the mysteries of produce code numbers |
Umbra Fisk |
11 Oct 2004 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, I recently learned that the UPC numbers on produce indicate whether the item is conventionally grown (beginning with a 4), organically grown (beginning with a 9), or genetically modified (beginning with an 8). I like to buy organic, locally grown produce at my local health food store whenever possible, but recently at a large grocery story I noticed some tomatoes with a UPC number that began with a 3. What ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, food, food and agriculture, GMOs, green living, organic food (all these topics) |
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Food-Altering Substance
On genetically modified foods |
Umbra Fisk |
09 Aug 2004 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, Is most of the genetically modified food that makes its way into our grocery aisles really that harmful? It seems to me that the process of genetic modification is not that far from hybridizing and other tinkering processes that we've come to accept. Judi Boston, Mass. Dearest Judi, We don't know, and that's the problem. The field is rife with dogma. Companies that genetically modify food crops claim sa ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, food and agriculture, GMOs (all these topics) |
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No Way, Solae!
On engineered soy products |
Umbra Fisk |
15 May 2003 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, I don't know if you'll have time to answer this question, but while purchasing 8th Continent soymilk my husband noticed that there was Solae in it. After some research on the Internet, we discovered that Solae is made by DuPont and is a genetically engineered soybean, but we were unable to find anything negative about it. Do you know anything about Solae and if it is dangerous? Sincerely, Heather Anne Sacramento, ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, food, food and agriculture, GMOs, green living (all these topics) |
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