Last night, my man and I had a wonderful sitter who loves our little guy, and we went out to a movie with a clear conscience knowing he was in good hands. My man agreed to see The Jane Austen Book Club. Since it's hard to coordinate getting out of the house, we arrived at the Riviera without dinner in our bellies, so we decided on some popcorn and a soda. I already know not to ask about the soda, but I asked the handsome, flirtatious boy man behind the counter a simple question about the popcorn that any sane person would ask.
"Is this popcorn made from genetically modified corn?" The smile left his face and he looked around for packaging, as if it would just give him the answer.
"Orville Redenbacher," he said. "I think that's a pretty good brand."
"Thanks!" I said. I decided, seeing as we were on date number 4 since the baby was born, that I'd take my chances. After watching a great movie, we went straight home to relieve the poor girl who sat with little E for a two and a half hour fuss session. the popcorn question had to be answered, so I did a search and according to an article entitled Pop Secrets by Amy Wmmer Schwarb, here's the scoop:
Popcorn has more going for it than a reputation as the most fun grain in the maize family. While some U.S. crops—soybeans, field corn and tomatoes come to mind—have been genetically altered with DNA from other living organisms, popcorn remains pure, its parentage selectively bred using techniques as old as Charles Darwin. The many improvements it has enjoyed over the decades are the result of good old-fashioned farming know-how—and lots of trial and error. Yet within the industry, breeders know there may come a day—five years from now? 10? 20?—when keeping up with the field production of genetically modified crops could challenge them to reconsider. Though the crop has ancient roots, the quest to breed a better popcorn is largely a 20th century phenomenon—one that might eventually be plagued by this even more modern question. No popcorn currently on the market is genetically modified (known in the breeding world as GMO), but Ken Ziegler, who retired last year as the popcorn-breeding agronomist at Iowa State University, says a nod of consumer acceptance could shift the future. “The big companies, for sure, have GMOs on their shelf, ready to go,” Ziegler says. “They have to, to be competitive.”