The Environmental Working Group has just finished their helpful guide to avoiding GE foods when you go shopping for your family. They feel consumers have the right to know if their food has been genetically engineered. However, the U. S. Government does not require labeling of GE foods or ingredients so that shoppers can make informed decisions.
More than 60 other nations, including France, Germany, Japan, Australia, Russia, China, and the United Kingdom, require GE labeling. Until Congress or state governments enact mandatory labeling of GE ingredients in food, American shoppers are left in the dark. So the EWG has some helpful guidelines to use to avoid food with GE ingredients.
Three ways to avoid GE foods:
1.) Buy organic. National and state organic certification rules do not allow GE foods to be labeled “organic”. When you buy organic, you buy food free not only of synthetic pesticides but also GE ingredients.
2.) Buy food certified as “Non-GMO Project Verified”. The non-profit organization Non-GMO Project operates a detailed, voluntary certification process so that food producers can test and verify that, to the best of their knowledge, they have avoided using GE ingredients in their products.
3.) Use EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to avoiding GE foods. For a $10.00 donation, they have a guide to find foods made without ingredients likely to be GE foods. This guide helps consumers find products made without ingredients that are likely to be GE, as well, it aims to help shopper’s decide which products are the most important to buy organic or certified GE-free.
The Four most common GE foods ingredients in food to avoid:
1.) Field corn and corn-derived ingredients. 90% of American corn in the U.S. is genetically engineered(USDA 2013a). Most of the corp is cultivated for animal feed, but 12% is processed to corn flour, high fructose corn syrup, masa, corn meal and corn oil that ends up in foods consumed by people (EPA 2013).
2.) Soybeans and soybean-derived ingredients. 93% of soybeans grown in this country have been genetically engineered (USDA 2103b).Soybean based products with GE ingredients would commonly be labeled as: soybean oil, soy flour, soy sauce, tofu or soy lecithin or the presence of soy proteins.
3.) Sugar. 55% of our sugar comes from sugar beets in the U.S., 95% of this sugar have been genetically engineered (USDA 2013c). If a product does not specify that it has been made with “pure cane” sugar, chances are significant that it contains GE beet sugar.
4.) Vegetable oils. Consumers should assume that vegetable oil, canola oil, cottonseed oil, soybean oil and corn oil are genetically engineered. 90% of American oil seed production is soybeans, which are almost entirely genetically engineered (USDA2013b). 90% of all corn oil is derived from GE corn and most of the canola and cottonseed oils come from GE varieties.
Watch list: Foods that could be GE foods in the near future.
Papaya, 75% of the Hawaiian papaya is genetically engineered to resist the ringspot virus. Zucchini and yellow summer squash, Sweet corn, salmon, flax, plums, potato, radicchio, rice, tomato and wheat (FDA2014).
Avoiding GE ingredients isn’t easy. In fact, estimates indicate that more than 75% of the food in supermarkets is genetically engineered or contains GE ingredients (Center for Food Safety 2013b). EWG is trying to give you some helpful guidelines to help you shop for healthy foods for you and your families. They have a very helpful website with lots of consumer friendly information at www.ewg.org .
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