Characteristics of Genetically modified foods
The first GM plants were created in 1983. Since then a variety of crop plants such as maize, soybean, rice, rapeseed (mustard), tomato, cotton, potato etc have been modified by this technique. What are the benefits of genetic modification? Among the many benefits of genetic modification, reduction in the use of pesticides or herbicides, higher yields, better quality food, foods with greater shelf life, nutritional improvement and enhancement in processing qualities are some of the important benefits of geneticmodification. Let us understand this concept better by looking at the benefits of genetically modifying a few of the food items: