The emphasis is on living entities. The term GMO also includes organisms intended to synthesise specific chemical products, which are often difficult to manufacture by non-biological means. Such GMO-derived products include food enzymes, like chymosin that helps milk clot in making cheese and insulin for the treatment of diabetes. These foods come in many forms. Some are whole foods like soybeans.
Some foods contain one or more ingredients produced by using genetic techniques.
But many highly processed foods derived from genetically modified plants, like oils or cornstarch, contain no new genetic components, or only trace amounts. A very small number of genetically modified foods have a different make-up or have a different nutritional value to that of similar conventional foods. More of these types of food are expected to be commercialised in the near future. Different Countries, Different Attitudes Much of the work currently being done on new GMFs is being done in the US whereas in the European Union the emphasis for genetic engineering is pharmaceuticals. In the US there isn't much public opposition to genetically modified food.