Whether pasta, bread, or carrots – genetic engineering is in far more products than we generally assume. It has long since arrived even on organic shelves. High time to remove a few rotten eggs from the shopping basket. Caution: consume at your own risk – the content of the video may contain traces of genetic engineering.

Many of our foods are the result of decades of plant breeding. Bigger, tastier, longer shelf life, less susceptible to disease, and more resilient to heat and moisture – the demands placed on our crops are high. It’s no surprise that breeding methods have continually evolved.

A true quantum leap came with mutagenesis, which began nearly 100 years ago, when X-rays and gamma rays were first used to deliberately induce mutations in barley and maize. In the 1950s, chemical mutagens were added, enabling an even more efficient production of mutations. In the 1960s and 1970s, mutagenesis became widespread worldwide, and many of today’s cultivated varieties originated during this era of mutagenic breeding – including organic varieties.

So next time you go shopping, chances are high that you’ll be putting vegetables or wheat products into your basket that were bred using classical mutagenesis – and thus products that, according to Prof. Beat Keller, one of the most renowned experts in wheat breeding, also fall under the definition of genetic engineering. But see for yourself: