In a series of shows in early December, popular and influential NBC television talk show host Dr. Mehmet Oz focused on genetically modified foods and touted organic eating. In spite of that, Gord Surgeoner, Guelph-based president of Ontario Agri-Food Technologies, doesn’t see a consumer backlash on the horizon nor a significant change in perceptions about the safety of food. There isn’t close to the level of concern about genetically modified foods that there was a decade ago when Europe banned imports of genetically modified corn. “I didn’t see a lot of follow-up press and newspaper articles associated with it,” he says.
