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RUNNING HEAD: REINVENTING FOOD

Destiny Fetterson

Reinventing Food

ENG 1313-05, Writing in a Digital World

March 2017
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Reinventing Food

Food has been studied for many years and now scientists are really considering how they

can make food the healthiest for people to eat. Since food over the years have changed and now

a lot of foods include GMOs which means that the food is genetically modified to hopefully

make it better. Some foods have bad side effects such as weight gain and allergic reactions.

New technologies are reinventing food. New food is being reinvented through

bioprinting meat, vertical farming as well as artificial intelligence-driven food design. According

to the article on Tech Blog by Diamandis (2017) a Singularity University company hopes to

disrupt that industry by using bioprinting (tissue engineering and 3D printing) to grow meat

(beef, chicken and pork) and leathers in a lab. In success, bioprinting of meat (beef, chicken,

pork) has huge advantages for humanity. By bio-printing of meat, we would be able to feed the

world with 99% less land, 96% less water, 96% fewer greenhouse gases and 45% less energy.

(Diamandis, 2017). The main reason for bioprinting would be to save animals and basically

repopulate the lands. Cows and chickens are the most used animals for meat. If bioprinting was

really put to the test the population of animals would increase by a generous amount. A

genetically modified organism (GMO) is any organism whose genetic material has been altered

using genetic engineering techniques. Diamandis (2017) stated that In 2016, over 75% of crop

yield in the United States was genetically modified. Meaning that more than a trillion GMO

meals have been served over the past years. Scientists found that GMO crops grow faster using

sunlight, and that more efficient crops able to grow in saltier waters as sea levels rise.

I learned that people have been genetically changing the foods for over thousands of

years. Unfortunately, they took a look at ways to make food that is not so healthy for people,

healthier. Such as oils that are used to fry foods that will not clog arteries and certain fruits and
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vegetables that will be able to me grown in all types of weather conditions. is working on

creating canola beans that will produce only the most heart-friendly oils, allowing french fry

lovers more latitude. But only since the 1970s has it been possible to adjust genetic makeup

with precision. (CBS, 1998) Scientists can now rewrite an organism's genetic blueprint. They

can add genes, subtract them, even take genes from one organism and put them into another.

Researchers are also trying to create plants that grow disease-fighting substances known as

phytochemicals. Even though medicine is not a type of food thats being modified, we still

consume it and it has an effect on our bodies. The medicine that is being changed could be

better for people than what already have on the market. Scientists are using plants to make

vaccines the most cheapest for everyone to be able to have access to them.

According to the most hyperbolic rhetoric, genetic engineering is going to save the world.

This is the technology that is going to liberate people from farms that run on fossil fuels. It will

feed more people off fewer acres than ever before. And it will end our reliance on harmful

pesticides.

Jonathan Foley, the director of the Institute on the Environment at the University of

Minnesota, made a convincing case that genetic engineering, or any kind of crop improvement

actually, is not of primary importance (Johnson, 2013). If people really wanted to feed

themselves responsibly, here is how we could reduce food waste, eat less meat, and make

fertilizer and irrigation available to the farmers that need it.

Food can be reinvented in many ways, through technology and altering the way natural

things are made. Genetically changing foods can have both negative and positive outcomes.

Most of them would not be good. But some would. If bioprinting became as popular as they
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think it will then there will be an abundant amount of animals and more healthier outcomes from

eating the modified foods.

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References

CBS News Staff (1998). Reinventing food. CBS News. Retrieved from

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/reinventing-food-15-03-1998/

Diamandis, P. (2017). Reinventing food. Tech Blog. Retrieved from

http://www.diamandis.com/index.php/blog/reinventing-food\

Johnson, L. (2013, January 3) Is engineering a doomed effect to reinvent natured wheel? Grist.

Retrieved from http://grist.org/food/is-genetic-engineering-a-doomed-effort-to-reinvent-

natures-wheel/