This is a resource blog for GMO Free News, a Google Hangout hosted by women for women who want to know what is in their food.
Now an estimated 80 percent of processed food in the U.S. contains ingredients from crops altered in the lab to make them hardier, more resistant to disease and pests, and more tolerant of herbicides.
Sherri Goulet's house in Olympia. 3516 Pifer Road, Olympia 98501 The entrance to Pifer is opposite the Olympia High School clock tower on North. She's the first house on the left with all the yard signs in front!
There are many reasons to choose foods without genetically modified organisms (GMOs) — from the risks they pose to the environment to concern about their effects on consumer health. Despite industry claims, there is not a single commercial GMO crop with increased yield, drought-tolerance or enhanced nutrition.
Unlike many countries around the world, the U.S. does not require labeling of foods containing GMOs. That's troubling when you consider an estimated 60 to 70 percent of packaged food in mainstream grocery stores contain them. Assume a packaged food has GMOs unless it's clearly labeled otherwise.
Choose organic
This is the best way to assure your food is GMO-free. Genetic engineering (GE) is a prohibited method of production in organics, so foods labeled "certified organic" or "made with organic ingredients" cannot contain GE ingredients intentionally.
Company supports consumer’s right to know by setting five-year deadline for labeling GMOs
Whole Foods Market announced today at Natural Products Expo West that, by 2018, all products in its U.S. and Canadian stores1 must be labeled to indicate if they contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs)2. Whole Foods Market is the first national grocery chain to set a deadline for full GMO transparency.
“We are putting a stake in the ground on GMO labeling to support the consumer’s right to know,” said Walter Robb, co-CEO of Whole Foods Market. “The prevalence of GMOs in the U.S. paired with nonexistent mandatory labeling makes it very difficult for retailers to source non-GMO options and for consumers to choose non-GMO products. Accordingly, we are stepping up our support of certified organic agriculture, where GMOs are not allowed, and we are working together with our supplier partners to grow our non-GMO supply chain to ensure we can continue to provide these choices in the future.”
Whole Foods Market has been collaborating with many of its supplier partners for several years to source products without GMO ingredients. In 2009, the company began putting its 365 Everyday Value™ line through Non-GMO Project™ verification and encouraged its grocery supplier partners to do the same. Whole Foods Market currently sells 3,300 Non-GMO Project verified products from 250 brands, more than any other retailer in North America. It will now expand this effort, working with suppliers in all categories as they transition to ingredients from non-GMO sources, or clearly label products containing GMOs by the five-year deadline. Whole Foods Market will make announcements about progress and key milestones along the way.
“We’re responding to our customers, who have consistently asked us for GMO labeling and we are doing so by focusing on where we have control: in our own stores,” said Robb.
GMOs are now part of an ongoing national conversation, thanks to efforts of various advocacy groups such as JustLabelIt.org and to individual states considering their own mandatory labeling laws, like the efforts that are now underway in Washington state. “Whole Foods Market supports that measure and looks forward to supporting other state efforts that may finally lead to one uniform set of national standards,” said Robb. “While we are encouraged by the many mandatory labeling initiatives, we are committed to moving forward with our own GMO transparency plan now.”
“We have always believed that quality and transparency are inseparable and that providing detailed information about the products we offer—such as 5-Step Animal Welfare ratings in meat, Eco Scale rated cleaning products in grocery, stringent wild and farm-raised standards in seafood, and now labeling GMOs throughout the store—is part of satisfying and delighting the millions of people who place their trust in Whole Foods Market each day,” said A.C. Gallo, president of Whole Foods Market. “This bold task will encourage manufacturers to ask deeper questions about ingredients, and it will help us provide greater transparency about the products we sell so our customers can be empowered to make informed decisions about the foods that are best for them.”
Until there is GMO labeling, consumers can rely on Non-GMO Project verified products and certified organic products if they want to avoid GMOs. The U.S. National Organic Standards prohibit the intentional use of GMO seed in the production of organic crops. As a pioneer in the U.S. organic food movement for the past 32 years, Whole Foods Market now offers thousands of organic products, the largest variety in the country.
1 The company has 7 stores in the U.K., which already requires labeling for all foods or feeds that intentionally contain or are produced from GMO ingredients. 2 Plants that have been altered through a technique that changes their genetic makeup, producing new combination of genes and traits that do not occur in nature, including the possibility of the introduction genes from other species, are called genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or genetically engineered (GE) foods.
I'm wandering the aisles of Central Co-op, a natural foods market on Capitol Hill, checking its shelves for genetically engineered foods. Once you know what to look for, it turns out those ingredients are everywhere—even here, among the fake meats and packages covered in leafy art, smiling animals, and hand-lettering. They're in the whole-grain bread, in the veggie burgers, in the peanut-free soy nut butter. You can't always tell from friendly labels—"100% natural," "multi-grain," "fair trade." But you may be able to tell soon.
Washington State will be voting in November on Initiative 522, which would require food made with genetically engineered ingredients (also known as genetically modified organisms, or GMOs) to be labeled as such at the retail level.
Still, the opposition to labeling is fierce. In November, Proposition
37, which would've mandated labeling of GMO foods, lost on the
California ballot after the opposition dumped more than $45 million into
a campaign arguing that labeling GMOs would be deceptive, pointless,
and expensive.
The Organic & Non-GMO Report is the
only publication focusing on threats posed by genetically modified (GM)
foods and the trend toward non-GMO foods. Another publication, The
Non-GMO Sourcebook provides a comprehensive list of suppliers of non-GMO
seeds, grains, ingredients, feed, and food products.
Baobab - The king of Superfruits -
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naturally inside the fruits of the Baobab tree. Baobab is milled and
sieved before packing so it remains a whole, raw food. Also, come taste
baobab fruit cubes - no added sugar, high fiber.
From inception, Raw Foods International,
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Better Beets: A vegetable known to boost stamina, loaded with vitamins and iron. Making beets art of your diet is a simple way to maintain cardiovascular health.
In our upcoming newsletter, Food Co-op Commons, we have invited you to take a quick quiz to check your knowledge about genetically modified foods. Here is the pdf of the quiz and if you want to know the answers, here is a pdf copy of the quiz with the answers attached. Good luck, and for more info on GMOs, check out our kiosk in the store!
You asked for it, and we’ve done it. Using the Non-GMO Project’s verification certification list of products, we’ve labeled our shelves with signage that shows you which products are certified by the Non-GMO Project. Learn how to avoid genetically modified foods by looking for this certification seal on our shelves, and on various product labels. We also have shopping guides available in the store to help you avoid GMO products. You can also read GMO Myth’s and Truths on the Non-GMO Project website.
