GMO Corn on the cob, can you tell you are eating it?

Mods: this is my second thread and I am not sure I am placing it in the best location. Please move if necessary.

I have been noticing something strange with corn on the cob that I have gotten in the past year or so. This may be a locality thing or it may be much worse. I moved to the mid-west about 2 years ago. I grew up in Boston for about 20+ years and then spent another 20+ living in various locales up and down the west coast and I have enjoyed many summers with corn as part of my meals and mostly fresh on the cob whenever possible.

Since I moved to the mid-west, I have had some ears of corn that were a nice uniform yellow all around and then, usually in the top 1/3 of the ear, I would find one or two bright red, like my grandmother's lipstick red, shining out at me. I have seen some corn in the past with an occasional darker kernel here and there. Usually a brownish-red and sometimes even a deep red but never any with that shade of red that looks like blood. Although I usually buy my corn from the local stands throughout the city who claim non-GMO, every now and then, I end up with some from the produce aisle and even though they usually state the same, I have been wondering because it is usually among these ones that have found this this trait.

I recently spent some time looking online to see if you can tell visually but I have not found anything definite yet.

I did find on this site: Healing naturally by Bee
The following to do with produce codes which we may all want to remember:

Look at Produce Stickers
Those little stickers on fruit and vegetables contain different PLU codes depending on whether the fruit was conventionally grown, organically grown or genetically engineered.

The PLU code for conventionally grown fruit consists of four numbers, organically grown fruit five numbers prefaced by the number 9, and GM fruit five numbers prefaced by the number 8.

For example:
• Conventionally grown PLU: 1022
• Organically grown PLU: 91022
• Genetically modified PLU: 81022

In terms of fruit, another strategy is to avoid hybrid varieties, which are fruits that have been altered by humans. Typically hybrid fruits contain more sugar than regular varieties so they taste sweeter and can be picked out because generally they don't contain seeds (seedless watermelon, seedless grapes, etc.). Although there are also seeded hybrid varieties, avoiding seedless fruits is one of the more prominent ways to avoid hybrid fruits.

I will start checking the codes on the store bought produce from now on but I figured I would write a thread here and see if anybody else has other ways to tell.

Anybody?

Originally posted by evc1shop
• Conventionally grown PLU: 1022
• Organically grown PLU: 91022
• Genetically modified PLU: 81022

A quick google search shows that this little factoid was written by Joseph Mercola back in January 2004.
Millions of websites seem to have copied it verbatim without bothering to double check.

If it was ever true, it is unlikely to be the same 9 and half years later.

Originally posted by alfa1
A quick google search shows that this little factoid was written by Joseph Mercola back in January 2004.
Millions of websites seem to have copied it verbatim without bothering to double check.

Edit - this snopes page has done the checking.
The claim, as presented by mercola and all those thousands of other websites, is not accurate.

For starters, the use of PLU codes is optional, so many produce items don't bear them.

Additionally, PLU codes were developed for the benefit of suppliers and retailers to assist them in sorting and pricing produce, not to provide information to end buyers.

If GM-based food suppliers think consumers won't want to knowingly buy their genetically modified corn, for example, they can simply decline to tag it with PLU codes.

Or, if retailers don't expect to price GM corn differently than conventionally grown corn, they can label the former with just four digits and omit the leading '8' that identifies it as a genetically modified product.

At this point PLU codes are more of a concept than a consistently and universally applied standard (as far as we know, no supplier or vendor has ever used the '8' digit that identifies GM produce), and they were not created for the benefit of consumers, so shoppers concerned about the nature of the produce they buy should rely upon other sources of information.

I am not sure if we can tell just by looks or taste.... but you know something isn't quite kosher when the animals can tell.

reply to post by alfa1
Why not? I was a cashier about 25 years ago and a PLU 4166 was an onion then and still is today.
I will have to take a trip down the produce aisle tomorrow.

I would find one or two bright red, like my grandmother's lipstick red, shining out at me. I have seen some corn in the past with an occasional darker kernel here and there. Usually a brownish-red and sometimes even a deep red but never any with that shade of red that looks like blood. Although I usually buy my corn from the local stands throughout the city who claim non-GMO, every now and then, I end up with some from the produce aisle and even though they usually state the same,

Some one is growing Indian corn near there sweet corn. and you are seeing a little cross pollination.
www.photo-dictionary.com...

Most field corn is genetically modified, most sweet corn is not. Last year only 3 to 4% of the sweet corn grown in the U.S. was GMO and it will look and taste more like field corn and be starchy

I would find one or two bright red, like my grandmother's lipstick red, shining out at me. I have seen some corn in the past with an occasional darker kernel here and there. Usually a brownish-red and sometimes even a deep red but never any with that shade of red that looks like blood. Although I usually buy my corn from the local stands throughout the city who claim non-GMO, every now and then, I end up with some from the produce aisle and even though they usually state the same,

Some one is growing Indian corn near there sweet corn. and you are seeing a little cross pollination.
www.photo-dictionary.com...

Most field corn is genetically modified, most sweet corn is not. Last year only 3 to 4% of the sweet corn grown in the U.S. was GMO and it will look and taste more like field corn and be starchy

reply to post by alfa1
Alfa, I appreciate your input and will try to verify what I can firsthand via physical stores labels. I used to write Point of Sale and Inventory control software for the bookselling industry and have done some in the grocery/retail space as well.
I know that a lot of the vendors will use the same PLU's on their fruit because the groves/growers all subscribe to the International Federation for Produce Standards organization. They are the PLU code folks for produce.

I may still have a friend who is connected with them that I might be able to ask about this. it is possible that the 8's and 9's exist but only at the carton or crate level for warehouse operations.

I see you have looked at snopes, so I guess I have cut out my own workload. My apologies for prematurely posting that info, I had looked around and seen it a bunch of times but never thought to check to see if it was not true.
I may contact the IFPS, too as I would like to get tot the bottom of this.

reply to post by ANNED
I have just never seen it so brightly colored. Next time I get one, I will snap a photo. It is almost fluorescent, glowing even.

I have had plenty of Indian corn in my life and used to buy corn from farms back in MA that grew them both and never had coloring like this. It just seems so different.

ETA: I have looked at the photos and the dark red that is shown there, I do see that and it doesn't bother me like the bright ones do.

reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe
Nice! Now I can stop letting the squirrels feast on my sunflowers and give them samples of corn from time to time.

Not sure about the corn chips as there could be anything wrong like cooked in canola oil or days old oil or too salty etc...

But, it sure seems like the fresh cobs can be tested somewhat reliably.
thanks

Large parts of Europe are still trying to resist GMO products.

I would have had some experience sourcing certain food products from around the world. One of the products to avoid was US corn. The belief being that it is not possible to get GMO free corn in the US anymore.

Kinda thought people living there would have been aware of this.

article from last year ;
phys.org...

By 2012, 88 percent of corn (maize) and 94 percent of soy grown in the United States were genetically modified, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

Corn and soy are 90% gmo ,in the USA .
Even if they are grown organically ,at the cellular level ,they are gmo .
If you eat any corn ,popped,on the cob,creamed ,its gmo .

reply to post by evc1shop


Seedless fruits are not necessarily hybrids.
The navel orange was a naturally occurring mutant, or 'sport'.

reply to post by butcherguy
I am certainly not advocating that we stop eating all seedless fruit, that was just in part of the quote from a site which I posted.
My original issue is that I have seen corn recently that doesn't look like any I have gotten familiar with over the last 40+ years. It was odd enough that I thought I would see if others have noticed.

I'll deal with GMO fruit next I guess.

Farmers Markets are one of the best ways to know you are getting what you are looking for. There are several vendors that will have signs letting you know they only use Heirloom non GMO seeds and natural pest control methods in their growning. Yes its going to cost more. They paid quite a bit more and worked harder, but it is worth it if you are avoiding the poison hmm?

reply to post by NephraTari
One of the things I did this year was to get some gardens started and I have purchased some heirloom tomato seeds from a farmer's market that are supposed to be 100% organic and GMO free. They are growing and I will continue to learn the joys of growing food as time goes on. In the meantime, and especially now that summer is here, I have been picking up more local GMO free items from my Tuesday farmer's market and the Saturday one.
I am planning on planting more vegetables and may also try to get a small greenhouse built with better southern exposure for winter or early spring growing/starting. I have been shocked by the produce prices and intend to use farmer's market as a supplement to my own yields as tie goes on.

I will definitely look at everything I pic up whether at an organic grocer, farmer market or a local supermarket if I happen to be in one.

NephraTari
several vendors that will have signs letting you know they only use Heirloom non GMO seeds a

You can't just buy GMO seeds. You will likely never see them anywhere for sale to the general public. Someone selling you "non GMO" seeds is only using that statement as a marketing ploy. It's the same as when a label on chicken says "hormone free" LOLOLOL. You will never see hormones in poultry.