Genetically modfied food. Conceptual image of a man eating a bowl of spaghetti. The spaghetti swirling around his fork is forming a double helix. This could represent the genetic modification or engineering of foodstuffs. Inserting new genes into the genome of an organism can give it desirable properties, such as resistance to frost or delayed spoilage. Pasta is made from wheat, one of the most commonly genetically modified crops.