Whole Foods Market, the leading natural and organic grocer, last week announced its commitment to the Non-GMO Project which is a non-profit collaboration of manufacturers, retailers, processors, distributors, farmers, seed breeders and consumers that all agree to use no genetically modified organisms(GMOs) in their processes. The organization is dedicated to allowing consumers to make informed choices and its goal is to work toward the sustained availability of non-GMO options. Whole Foods will implement the Non-GMO Project’s Product Verification Program (PVP) in connection with it’s private label products as well as encourage its other retailers and suppliers to do the same.
What We Don’t Know Could Hurt Us After All
The PVP is the nation’s first system designed to scientifically test whether a product has met a set of defined standards for the presence of genetically engineered organisms. GMOs are organisms whose genes have been artificially manipulated in the lab to yield new characteristics or attributes that are not native to those organism or would never occur in nature. For instance, scientist could take the gene from a cold water salmon that enables them to withstand low temperatures and place it in a tomato plant to make it cold tolerant. Sounds great right? Well, no one really knows the long term effects of doing this or the unintended consequences. Yet, according to the FDA, as much as 75 percent of processed food in the United States may contain components from genetically modified crops. Herein lies the potential danger of GMOs. They’re already in the food supply without anyone really knowing what the long term results of unnaturally combining the DNAs of multiple plant and animal species is going to be.
Despite the abundance of products with genetically modified ingredients, a Pew Initiative study on Food and Biotechnology shows that 59 percent of Americans are unfamiliar with the issue of genetically modified ingredients in food, yet almost all of them have consumed them with most not even aware they were doing so. Repeated attempts by food safety and environmental groups to get congress to pass legislation requiring the labeling of GMO foods has failed, due mostly to the powerful food industry lobby against it.
Wether it’s safe or not, the biggest reason you shouldn’t eat GM food is because it supports huge companies like Monsanto (makers of Agent Orange and DDT) that are large contributors, both directly and indirectly, to the industrialized, polluting, unhealthy, and monopolistic factory farming industry that is destroying the land, as well as local farmers, and bearing all sorts of environmental and health problems. Though I could go further, the amount of discourse necessary to merely discuss the numerous negative effects a company like Monsanto has on the environment, farming communities, and public health would be a blog unto itself. If you’re unfamiliar with GMOs and/or companies like Monsanto, I would say going to see the film Food Inc. would be a good primer to beginning your education on the matter.
America Leads The Way Again…In Dumbfounding The Rest Of The World
The GMO labeling issue is one that is mostly unique to America. This is mainly due to the fact America is the biggest producer and consumer of GM food (corn and soybeans) and its also home to almost all of the large food corporations who profit the most off the GMO patents they own (Monsanto owning almost all of them). “In 30 other countries around the world, including Australia, Japan and all of the nations in the European Union, there are significant restrictions or outright bans on the production of GMOs, due to environmental impact and concerns about GMO safety,” said Megan Thompson, executive director of the Non-GMO Project.
The Non-GMO Projects Verification Process
At the heart of the Non-GMO Project’s program is its independent third-party verification process known as the Product Verification Program (PVP) The PVP uses a process that combines on-site facility audits, document-based review and DNA testing to measure compliance with the standard. For a product to bear the seal it must undergo a process through which any ingredient at high risk for genetic contamination -soy or corn, for example- has been shown to meet the non-GMO standard through avoidance practices and testing. Once a product has been approved through the PVP it can be described as being verified by the Non-GMO Project and/or be labeled with the Non-GMO Project’s compliance seal. The first Whole Foods Market private label products to bear this seal are expected to be in stores before the end of the year.
Other Whole Foods (Organic) Side Note
In addition to its announcement last week of its Non-GMO Project commitment, Whole Foods also became the first supermarket chain to be certified organic by CCOF,a non-profit, USDA-accredited third-party organic certifier. Each of Whole Foods’ 273 stores were independent certified meaning that the CCOF has verified that Whole Foods Market examines the current organic certification status of organic products; maintains a record-keeping process that demonstrates an audit trail for organic products; ensures organic products are appropriately protected from commingling with conventional products and contamination with prohibited materials; and trains store team members in handling practices for organic products. Whole Foods continues to impress.
The Good: This program will further aid and inform consumers while at the same time encourage other suppliers, retailers, farmers, etc. to adopt non-GMO practices and ingredients into their processes. Whole Foods, and others partnered in the project, are able to provide consumers with information that the government seems incapable and unwilling to provide.
The Bad: As of now, only Whole Foods’ brand of food products will be subject to the verification and labeling program.
The Bottom-Line: People deserve to know what they’re putting into their bodies, regardless of whether the science on what they’re consuming is definitive or not. The Non-GMO Project’s goal at providing more information about the food we eat is not only needed, but welcomed.
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