US Food Industry at “Tipping Point” as Clamor for Non-GM Foods Grows, Claims Green Campaigning Group

Green America, which promotes sustainable living, launched its GMO Inside campaign in 2014 lobbying for mandatory GMO labeling in the US and the removal of GM ingredients.

 

Green America is taking credit for what it terms as "10 major victories", as some of the top food companies in the US remove GM ingredients from their products and instead offer organic options and products made without GM ingredients.

 

The list of 10 is:

 

• Cheerios (General Mills) (January 2014): Removes GMOs from original Cheerios.
• Grape-Nuts (Post) (January 2014): Removes GMOs from Grape-Nuts, and obtains Non-GMO Project verification.
• Chobani (March 2014): Commits to working towards non-GMO & organic feed for dairy cows.
• Hershey's (February 2015): Removes GE ingredients from Kisses and milk chocolate bars.
• Hellmann's (Unilever) (May 2015): Offers non-GMO mayonnaise options.
• Similac (Abbott Laboratories) (May 2015): Introduces non-GMO infant formula.
• Campbell's (July 2015): Releases several organic and non-GMO products including organic soups and goldfish crackers made with organic wheat.
• Sabra Hummus (Partially owned by Pepsi) (May 2016): Removes GMOs from many hummus varieties.
• Enfamil (Mead Johnson Nutrition) (May 2016): Introduces non-GMO infant formula.
• Gerber Good Start (Nestle) (May 2016): Introduces non-GMO infant formula.

 

Some consumers have health and environmental concerns over the use of GM ingredients, though there is little scientific proof that products made with GM ingredients are less safe.

 

While campaigners can take credit for General Mills taking out GM ingredients from its original Cheerios, General Mills has no plans to rid GM ingredients from its others cereals.

 

"We are now at the tipping point and with this major momentum the shift to non- GMO food is only going to gain more speed," said Todd Larsen, executive co- Director of Green America. "These 10 victories demonstrate the important role consumers play in shaping our food supply. “

 

“As more and more consumers demand healthy, sustainable food made without GMOs, we expect more companies to follow suit and produce goods without GMOs. The victories to date are part of a larger trend towards simpler ingredients and transparency in GMO product labeling."

 

"Non-GMO and organic foods, which were once found only in natural food stores, are now mainstream, sold in major supermarkets nationwide," say Ken Roseboro, editor and publisher of The Organic & Non-GMO Report.

 

"Major food companies are seeing the tremendous consumer demand for such products and introducing non-GMO and organic products to meet the demand. This shows that more and more consumers want simple, natural and organic foods without GMOs, pesticides, and unnatural ingredients that are hard to pronounce. These are not fads, they are trends."

 

"We are seeing a key shift in consumer demand for more organic and non-GMO products" says Tracy Miedema, vice president at Presence Marketing.

 

"Since 2012, sales of non-GMO products have increased from $12.9 billion to $21.2 billion, and food companies are working to ensure that their products are non-GMO."

 

"With sales of non-GMO and organic food growing faster than all other food categories, any food companies that fail to listen to our campaigns and to their own customers are going to lose out in the market," said John Roulac, GMO Inside co-chair and Nutiva CEO.