Homemade French dressing - may contain corn oil as one of its ingredients. Deluxe pecan pie - contains both corn syrup and corn oil. If the pastry is a ready made, cholesterol-free, pie shell bought at the grocery store, it may contain dextrose, a sweetener made from grain corn. Maltodextrin is also used in instant soup mixes and other packages where the contents must be kept free flowing. We have covered only a few food items here, but if you take a typical grocery store that contains about 10,000 items, at least 2,500 products contain grain corn in one form or another.
Corn is the most diverse crop known to humans.
Some of its non-edible uses are fuel ethanol, spark plugs, toothpaste, wall paper and degradable golf tees. Just think of the food on the grocery store shelf. Most of us take this for granted. There is an effort taking place to help our young people understand the origin of food, the importance of agriculture and the career opportunities available to them in the agri-food industry. The OCPA receives requests for information on a regular basis from teachers and students across Ontario, Canada, throughout the U.S. and other countries such as Australia, Sweden and Jamaica.