New GMO Test Will Help Identify Modified Ingredients

As the debate over regulating the disclosure of genetically modified foods comes to a head in the United States Congress, the technology around GMO detection continues to evolve. A new test has the potential to identify all known GMOs with minimal cost, Food Safety Magazine reports.

A Bay Area food analytics company called Clear Labs created a test that will allow people to gauge whether food products are, in fact, GMO-free, by determining both the overall percentage of genetically modified ingredients in a product, as well as identifying the specific ingredients themselves.

A broad test will be able to scan for more than 85 percent of known GMOs, while a more focused test will cover crop-specific GMOs, and both will be available to consumers. This is the latest innovation from Clear Labs, which has previously unveiled technology with the potential to end outbreaks of food-related illnesses, and to identify whether purportedly meatless food items actually contain meat.

This new development could come in handy depending on the outcome of a GMO labeling bill that just passed in the Senate and is now headed to the House of Representatives. The bill has the potential to limit states’ ability to introduce their own labeling laws.

• Clear Labs Releases World’s First GMO Test Based on NGS Technology [FSM]
• Your Vegetarian Hot Dog Might Have Meat in It [E]
• DNA Testing for Food Could Make Listeria Outbreaks a Thing of the Past [E]
• Tracking GMO Politics and Policy [E]