Local thumbs down to genetically modified food

Melanie Kucera - The Daily Iowan – University of Iowa

Issue date: 9/25/08 Section: Metro

U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials recently released documentation that indicates it is looking at taking steps toward monitoring the genetically engineered food industry.

However, some stores in Johnson County do not think they would ever sign on.

Andy Mennenga, the meat market supervisor at the Bread Garden Market, 225 S. Linn St., said he heard of the FDA's recent announcement and doesn't think people will buy into it.

"It is not really a moral thing for me. More of a perception," he said. "I think it would be negative. There are a lot of people, especially in a more health-minded community such as Iowa City, that are not into genetically engineered meats."

Mennenga said he does not expect his store to carry the meats if they were to be publicly available.

The FDA's move is the first official draft that addresses how it could regulate genetically engineered animals, which have DNA injected into them that gives them a new trait. The administration's draft of possible regulatory procedures is open for public comment until Nov. 18.

The proposed regulations puts genetic alteration "on people's radars," said FDA spokeswoman Siobhan DeLancey. "This went from being science fiction to saying, 'Hey, they are really looking at this.' From our perspective, this is a good thing. We are saying these animals are subject to regulation and a very stringent regulation process."

FDA officials are not proponents of the technology, she said, but rather a part of the regulatory aspect.

Two examples of genetically engineered animals that researchers are working on approving are cattle that are resistant to mad-cow disease and pigs that contain healthy Omega-3 fatty acids.

Though the public may not have access to food from these genetically engineered animals for a while, other local food store representatives - such as Mike Ham - still hesitated about ever carrying the products - especially meats.

Ham, a butcher at Haight's Hawkeye Meat Market and Catering, 100 E. Oakdale Blvd., said he guessed his customers would question why the switch took place.

"I personally would say, 'I don't want to buy that, I am used to what I have been getting my whole life,' " he said.

And one place that would never carry the genetically engineered foods is the New Pioneer Co-op, 22 S. Van Buren St., said Jenifer Angerer, marketing manager at the store.

She noted that the FDA does not require these foods to be labeled - a major concern to those opposed to the initiative.

"People don't know what they are eating, and it goes against our natural and organic policies," Angerer said.

DeLancey could not comment on how soon food use animals could be approved, and said it is hard to determine.

"It isn't going to be tomorrow," she said.

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