Processed vs Natural Foods

Holly_Roman_Empire

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Technically, fruits and vegetables arrive at the grocery store in boxes...

This is why I don't care to differentiate between processed and natural foods. People can go anti-GMO, anti-GE, and organic only, but nothing found in a produce market is as it existed in nature. Do you consider selective breeding and cultivars to be genetic engineering? I do.

Even dogs are (and were) bred for certain characteristics, whether it's for aesthetic or practical purposes. And yet, I don't hear anybody getting huffy about that.

To be genetically engineered there has to be a modification to a plant or animal's DNA...this does not happen in selective breeding as no genes are altered, merely selected.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genetic engineering

Yes, I agree from a regulatory standpoint.

In Texas (I can't speak for other states, but I imagine regulations are similar), citrus trees grown for the purpose of producing commercial fruit has to be citrus budwood certified. A grapefruit cultivar with strong dense roots is grafted with a cultivar that has dense foliage. Thus, creating the best possible chance from as many grapefruits per tree as possible. Is this genetic engineering or selective breeding?

A person could create this type of budwood in their back yard if they were skilled enough to do it, but because it's created in a laboratory/greenhouse setting, does that make it unnatural or processed? It doesn't really matter.

ETA: My point is only that there are many ways to alter produce, and not all of them require a microscope. Yet people are still critical of one process versus another. This is why I choose not to worry about how my fruit came to be on my dinner table. People have no idea how much science goes into what you see in your produce section, organic or not.