Whole Foods Market is enrolling their two house brands—365 Everyday Value and Whole Foods—in the Non-GMO Project. The project began with the belief that consumers deserve to be informed if a product contains GMOs (genetically modified organisms). The FDA does not require manufacturers to disclose that information.
The Non-GMO Project is a “non-profit collaboration of manufacturers, retailers, processors, distributors, farmers, seed breeders and consumers” that seeks a standard of verification that a product contains no GMOs. They have developed a seal that verified products can display. Verification must be through a third party, not the manufacturer themselves.
What is genetic modification? It is a relatively new science that injects the DNA of one species into another species creating combinations of plant, animal, bacteria and viral genes that do not occur in nature or through traditional crossbreeding.
It is estimated that over 80% of crops in the United States contain at least some GMOs. The Non-GMO Project desires to preserve natural crops by limiting contamination, as most products are created from a combination of crops. For example, most jars of commercially available honey contain honey from all over the world, not one local area or producer. The same is true for most products.
Whole Foods joins products such as Eden beans and Kettle brand potato chips in stating that GMOs do not meet the standards of natural foods since they are not found in nature. Though some of the stated goals of GMO developers are to create more food to feed an ever-increasing population and to make foods even more nutritious, currently GMO crops are able to do two things: manufacture their own pesticides and resist herbicides (when an area is sprayed with an herbicide, everything in that area will die but the modified crop, a rather drastic way to control weeds).
If you do not want to use GMO products, you can make your voice heard by signing the Consumer Pledge on the Non-GMO Project site.
For more information:
Non-GMO Project
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