What do you get when you cross the technology of Frankenfoods with organics?\u00a0 The latest vegetables being created by Monsanto.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrescada lettuce, BellaFina peppers, and Bene\u00adfort\u00e9 broccoli\u201d are either already on supermarket shelves or coming soon to a store near you all across the country.\u00a0 But what most people don\u2019t realize is what\u2019s behind the names.\u00a0 Each is trademarked by an \u201call-but-anonymous Monsanto subsidiary called Seminis,\u201d according to an article in \u201cWired<\/a>,\u201d and each represents the latest in designer veggies being sold to us by none other than Monsanto.<\/p>\n Monsanto has been changing how agriculture grows plants for food for decades.\u00a0 But now, perhaps in response to America\u2019s growing distaste for genetically modified foods and possible legislation against GMOs, Monsanto appears to be going full circle by \u201ccreating\u201d better foods the \u201cold-fashioned\u201d way.<\/p>\n These new vegetables and fruits as well will be created by introducing \u201cnovel strains\u201d of old familiars through crossbreeding, which has been used by farmers for millenia.\u00a0 By combining high-tech \u201c\u2026accumulated scientific know-how\u201d with the age-old practice of crossbreeding, Monsanto is creating new \u201csuper vegetables\u201d with \u201call the advantages of genetically modified organisms without (supposedly) any of the harmful GMO factors.\u201d<\/p>\n So how are these new vegetables different from GMOs? \u00a0It\u2019s a technicality, but basically because the vegetables are created using crossbreeding without \u201c\u2026any genetic engineering\u201d and where no one actually \u201c\u2026inserts a single gene into a single genome,\u201d they\u2019re not classified as GMO. \u00a0And because of this technicality, possible restrictions and new laws regarding GMOs won\u2019t apply to these new super vegetables.<\/p>\n Even though these new vegetables and fruits are \u201c\u2026born in a lab, technically they\u2019re every bit as natural as what you\u2019d get at a farmer\u2019s market\u201d according to the article.\u00a0 And if Monsanto chooses to \u201ckeep them away from pesticides and transport them less than 100 miles,\u201d they can be \u201c\u2026called organic and locavore, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s another fun fact.\u00a0 With \u201c\u2026all the benefits of a GMO with none of the stigma,\u201d Monsanto can actually charge more for these new super foods.\u00a0 Perhaps that\u2019s the real reason Monsanto is changing their strategy or perhaps, too, it\u2019s because \u201c\u2026genetically modifying consumer crops proved to be inefficient and expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n Whatever the reason, Monsanto still intends to do Mother Nature one better.\u00a0 Move over, \u201cI Can\u2019t Believe It\u2019s Not Butter<\/a>,\u201d you have competition:\u00a0 \u201cI Can\u2019t Believe It\u2019s Not GMO.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n