We're seeing progress across industry, academia and the non-profit community. This may help alleviate vitamin A deficiencies in places where mustard oil is a staple in the local diet. While making improvements to food for the industrial world is not a priority for Monsanto, other companies and university researchers are working hard in this area. For example, Du Pont has developed a modified oil with an increased amount of the fatty acid oleic acid. This product has reduced levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids and is more stable upon storage.
Efforts are under way to modify other fatty acids to make oils more healthy for consumers.
Also, there is research ongoing elsewhere to increase the amount of vitamin D in soybean oil. Monsanto and other scientists have also been involved in research that may help reduce the likelihood of allergic responses to foods. We have been able to take a protein that is currently an allergen and modify specific amino acids in the protein to dramatically reduce the allergenic nature of the protein. Other scientists are using this and other methods to reduce the allergenic nature of some foods, such as peanuts and soybeans, which cause allergic reactions in a significant number of people. Monsanto has been one of the most criticized, even despised, corporations because of its role in the development of genetically modified foods.