Have you ever seen a little sticker on an orange or a bunch of bananas and wondered what that tag meant? The sticker identifies how that produce has been grown, whether it has been grown naturally or perhaps been genetically modified. But most people do not know how to decipher those numbers and are worried about what they are eating. They are worried about what fruit companies are selling in the supermarkets.
The main reason that fruit producers modify fruit is that they want to either prolong the shelf life of the fruit or make it taste better. Fruit modifiers are trying to make a tomato that stays "vine fresh" longer and will not bruise in the shipping process.
Genetic engineers have also been working on extracting an anti-freeze that comes from the Arctic Flounder to make strawberries, tomatoes, and other crops frost resistant. Arctic Flounder live in the extremely cold waters of the arctic and have an anti-freeze in their blood to keep them from freezing. Scientists experimented for years to extract this anti-freeze, and they have successfully injected anti-freeze into strawberry plants so that the plant could start making anti-freeze independently.
External Links
Genetically Modified Fruit: The Hazard
Test Your Knowledge!
Artic Flounder is used to help make ____ , tomatoes and other crops frost resistant.
A. Strawberries
B. Bananas
C. Oranges
