It seems like I’m always writing about sugar…

The granulated sugar supply in the U.S. comes from two agricultural sources: half from sugar cane and the other half from sugar beets. Recently, American Crystal, a large Wyoming-based sugar company, along with several other leading sugar manufacturers announced that they will be sourcing their sugar from genetically engineered sugar beets beginning this year and arriving in stores in 2008. Products containing GE sugar will not be labeled as such. It works the same way for GE corn and GE soy, which are both already on the market.

This marks a dramatic change in the U.S. food supply. Together, GE corn, GE soy, and now GE sugar, are found in many conventional food products. It has now reached the point where consumers will be exposed to GE foods in just about every non-organic multiple ingredient product they purchase.

The reason these sugar companies have decided to use GE sugar beets is because these sugar beets are designed to withstand strong doses of pesticides. Obviously, it’s a profit motive. Using these new sugar beets enables agribusiness to streamline production and cut costs. But what about the consumer? I don’t want to eat sugar that came from a crop of pesticide-ridden, unnatural, and engineered sugar beets. Can’t we eat any normal food anymore?

To read more, go here.

-Rohit