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Budweiser Vetos Genetically Modified Rice

Posted by timothy on from the squeeze-in-a-cheap-shot dept.

fishdan writes "Anheuser-Busch the makers of Budweiser and other beers, has stated that they will not buy rice from Missouri if genetically modified crops are allowed in the state. Budweiser is claimed to be the best selling beer in the world Bud Light is the second best selling. I wonder about the stats of Tsing Tao I'm not sure what they're afraid of from genetically modified rice. Do they think their beer could get any worse?"

4 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. Re:But does it taste different? by tOaOMiB · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you RTFA, you'd notice that this is not about genetically modifying rice to have to grow better or faster. This is about a drug company that wants to use rice to produce human proteins to be used at drugs--not rice for consumption! The fear here (from Anheuser-Busch) is about cross-pollination with normal rice strains.

  2. Real Beer has no rice by gvc · · Score: 4, Informative

    Where I come from, beer is made from barley, hops, yeast and water.

    Not rice, corn or potatoes.

    1. Re:Real Beer has no rice by Guido+von+Guido · · Score: 4, Informative
      How did this get modded informative? First, even the Germans make plenty of wheat beer. Last I checked, malted wheat ain't barley.

      Second, the quality of the finished product has little to do with whether or not the brewer uses rice, corn or potatoes. Budweiser sucks because they use less malt and hops than in a traditional pilsner, and because they go to extraordinary efforts to remove whatever flavor they do add to the beer.

      For that matter, I've had some excellent beers made with all three of your verboten grains (yes, including potatoes), and some of the best beers in the world are made with added sugar.

      For an example of a classic beer made with corn, check out the Classic American Pilsner. This is a style of beer brewed in America before Prohibition, and which was revived in large part through the efforts of homebrewer Jeff Renner. Unfortunately, it is true that there aren't any good commercial examples.

  3. Another Misleading Story... by tOaOMiB · · Score: 5, Informative

    Please do note that this is not a story about Budweiser not using GMO. In fact, there is nothing that says they are even against GM rice--just rice being modified to produce drugs grow outside, where it can potentially crosspollinate with rice meant for consumption. While the summary states that Anheuser-Busch "will not buy rice from Missouri if genetically modified crops are allowed in the state," the article clearly states they "won't buy rice from Missouri if genetically modified, drug-making crops are allowed to be grown in the state."

    The trolling summary then continues on with links to the popularity of Bud and the uprising Tsing Tao for no obvious reason.