Nature’s Corner is proud that we only sell 100% certified Organic produce, grown locally or shipped responsibly to us. We are dedicated to ensuring we do not sell any GMO produce. It’s a little scary to see one big-box retailer will begin selling Monsanto’s genetically modified (GE) sweet corn with no labeling for consumers. This is the first sweet corn variety meant to be eaten directly by the consumer.
Up until now, one of summer’s greatest treats, corn on the cob, has typically been free from genetically modified ingredients (GMO or GE), but that’s changing. Monsanto now has a sweet corn made from GE ingredients, and Walmart will be selling it.
EcoWatch reports that this corn is the first “consumer product developed by Monsanto that will go straight from the farm to the consumer’s plate, rather than first being processed into animal feed, sugars, oils, fibers and other ingredients found in a wide variety of conventional food.”
The GE sweet corn will not be labeled as such, despite the fact that public widely wants products made from genetically modified ingredients to be labeled. In fact, it’s one of the few issues that gets bipartisan support from the public. Eight-nine percent of Republicans and 90 percent of Democrats want genetically modified foods to be labeled, but the government ignores those numbers.
Not everyone ignores them, though. Whole Foods, Trader Joes and General Mills all say they will not carry sweet corn made from GE ingredients or use them in their products. California may be the first state to require foods to be labeled as GE if Proposition 37 passes in November.
That won’t help those of us in the rest of the country much, though. If you want to stay away from genetically modified food you need to buy organic or buy a food that is labeled GMO-free.
Now that sweet corn will be available in GE form, even the corn at the farmers market isn’t safe. You’ll have to ask the farmers that aren’t certified organic if they use GE seeds to grow their corn.
