Hooray for the Non-GMO project!

Hooray for the Non-GMO Project! While many of us are trying to eat healthy each day, sometimes it is difficult to know by packaging alone what those ingredients are in the box you are holding. Enter the Non-GMO project, which began wholeheartedly in 2010, is helping us verify just that. Over $19 billion dollars in annual sales now come from the Non-GMO verified project. 1 The nongmoproject.org does not tell us that a food is organic; it does tell us however, that the packaged food does not contain a genetically modified Franken food. We are not talking about crossing a tomato with a tomato (or at least a different fruit) to get a hybrid tomato that resists bugs or tastes more sweet, but rather a food with a transgenic cross such as with an animal, bacteria, virus gene or a toxin. It is seriously scary lab stuff. Educate yourself on the non-GMO website when you have a few minutes.

https://www.nongmoproject.org/gmo-facts/what-is-gmo/

Sadly, the United States in not part of the 64 country contingent that requires foods to be labeled as containing GMO ingredients, although consumer demand is there. Germany will be phasing out glyphosate use, just recently announced by German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze.1,2  Glyphosate is what is in Monsanto's Roundup Ready corn seed. And it must be purchased every year from Monsanto! No seed saving as farmers around the world have done for generations. While the jury is out on whether or not our government will ever require food manufacturers to label their packages with the "contains Genetically Modified Organisms" label, we can become more personally educated by checking out the Non-GMO list here. And then support the companies that are taking the extra step to avoid genetically modified ingredients and to also educate yourself on GMOs. 1 .

 https://www.nongmoproject.org/product-verification/

It is important to fill your individual diet with as many seasonal, organic and local whole food items as you can, but there are times when a packaged food may be necessary and convenient for you and your family. Let the Non-GMO Project be your guide to eating and better health. By choosing from the Non-GMO Verified list, you can successfully avoid GMO corn, cottonseed and canola oil and soy, 4 of the profitable genetically modified foods present in our processed foods.

The jury is out on the damage these ingredients can cause you.  For example, corn that is GMO is produced to be Roundup ready (with glyphosate), meaning the corn plants won't die when farmers spray the fields but yet kills everything else around it. I personally am not willing to be a science experiment in which I find out later that GMO crops are causing me health issues. Oops. The bad news on glyphosate is that there are links to it being cancer-causing.

For example, when choosing corn chips for your upcoming party, purchase chips with the non-GMO verified project seal on the front of the package. After you know the verified label, it's easy to spot on the grocery shelves. I am seeing the seal in grocery stores across the country. Start speaking with your dollars!  Most giant food manufacturers are starting to pay attention to how successful this project is and how consumers are starting to look for the symbol. You have a lot of clout at the grocery store when you speak up with your wallet. Let's all be part of the change to get this bad stuff out of our food.

Other foods that are GMO and available commercially or in commercial development include papaya, yellow summer squash, zucchini, sugar beet and alfalfa. Current developments include sugarcane, tomato, salmon, potato, pineapple, orange, mushroom, wheat, apple, flax, mustard, rice and wheat. I buy all of these foods organically since I know they will not include a genetically modified component/experiment that affects my health.

1. Non-GMO Verified Project. https://www.nongmoproject.org/gmo-facts/ Accessed March 24 2018.

2. Deutsche Welle. Germany to Revive Climate Change, Phase Out Glyphosate. March 23, 2018. http://www.dw.com/en/germany-to-revive-climate-change-phase-out-glyphosate/a-43110900. Accessed March 23 2018.