As with local, non-GMO is a good thing. But non-GMO alone doesn't guarantee healthy and sustainable. Because corporations want a piece of the non-GMO pie, products labeled non-GMO, but containing all manner of artificial and chemical ingredients, and grown using pesticides and chemical fertilizers, are now showing up on grocery shelves, side-by-side with organic products. A perfect examples is New York-based Murray's Chicken, which promotes its "Better for You" Non-GMO Chicken without the Organic Chicken Price Tag!
Marketing strategies like the one used by Murray's Chicken are creating even more confusion in the marketplace about which foods are genuinely healthy, sustainable and natural-- and which aren't. According to the 2014 Market LOHAS (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability) survey, 80 percent of consumers seek the Non-GMO label, and 56 percent say non-GMO trumps organic (52 percent) when shopping for food.
Consumers since the late 1960s have trusted organic as an alternative to energy and chemical intensive foods. Organic represents food raised without chemical fertilizers, fungicides, herbicides and pesticides, and for livestock access to the outdoors as well as no growth hormones and antibiotics. But beyond what "isn't" allowed in organic, the organic label means much more. Food certified organic has been grown in harmony with nature, by farmers committed to building soil health, increasing organic matter and protecting ground water and pollinator and wildlife habitat.
So, if you're shopping for healthy, sustainable, natural food, go ahead and look for local, Non-GMO Project certified food--as long as it's also certified organic (although certified organic is by definition always non-GMO). But you can skip the "natural" label.
Ronnie Cummins is international director of the Organic Consumers Association and its sister organization in Mexico,Via Organica.
Katherine Paul is associate director of the Organic Consumers Association.
Marketing strategies like the one used by Murray's Chicken are creating even more confusion in the marketplace about which foods are genuinely healthy, sustainable and natural-- and which aren't. According to the 2014 Market LOHAS (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability) survey, 80 percent of consumers seek the Non-GMO label, and 56 percent say non-GMO trumps organic (52 percent) when shopping for food.
Consumers since the late 1960s have trusted organic as an alternative to energy and chemical intensive foods. Organic represents food raised without chemical fertilizers, fungicides, herbicides and pesticides, and for livestock access to the outdoors as well as no growth hormones and antibiotics. But beyond what "isn't" allowed in organic, the organic label means much more. Food certified organic has been grown in harmony with nature, by farmers committed to building soil health, increasing organic matter and protecting ground water and pollinator and wildlife habitat.
So, if you're shopping for healthy, sustainable, natural food, go ahead and look for local, Non-GMO Project certified food--as long as it's also certified organic (although certified organic is by definition always non-GMO). But you can skip the "natural" label.
Katherine Paul is associate director of the Organic Consumers Association.
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