Thank you for taking the time to visit GMO Answers, and for your question regarding the approved GM products on the market. As you may know, in the late 20th century, advances in technology enabled scientists to expand the genetic diversity of crops. For decades, dedicated researchers from universities, government and private companies have worked to create safe technologies, including plant biotechnology, that have helped farmers around the globe increase the yield of crops while requiring less land and fewer inputs, both of which lessen the impact on the environment and reduce costs for farmers.
In the United States, there are currently eight crop types commercially available from GM seed: corn, soybeans, cotton, canola, alfalfa, sugar beets, papaya and squash.
In the United States, some GM crops — like canola, soybeans and corn — may be used in processing for food products, including cooking oil. Some of the GM traits in these crops have provided healthier oil profiles, like high-oleic or low-linoleic levels in soy oils. In addition, some refined sugar may be derived from GM sugar beets, and GM sweet corn, squash and papaya are also available in the United States. You may find the history of the GM papaya interesting; I encourage you to visit this website for more information.
A full list of all crops approved in the United States and around the globe can be found on the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) database of GM crop events and traits approved for commercialization and planting.
For further background on GM technology and the availability of GM crops, you may be interested in the Explore page and reading the section entitled “GMO and Consumers.”