Since 2010, Nature’s Corner has been a proud supporting member of the NON-GMO Project, a non-profit organization committed to preserving and building sources of non-GMO products, educating consumers, and providing verified non-GMO choices. It’s our shared belief with the NON-GMO Project that everyone deserves an informed choice about whether or not to consume genetically modified organisms.
Nature’s Corner stocks thousands of NON-GMO PROJECT VERIFIED products and Certified Organic products (which can never be genetically modified) throughout the store. When making purchasing choices, our buyers compare new products with the NON-GMO Project’s list of verified products. This list was created using North America’s only third party verification and labeling for non-GMO food and products. Products that are included in this list are marked with NON-GMO tags on our shelves.
GMOs (short for Genetically Modified Organisms) are organisms that have been created through the use of genetic engineering; also known as gene-splicing or recombinant DNA technology. This avenue of biotechnology involves removing genes from an organism or introducing the DNA of one species into another in the hopes that the new creation will have attributes of both original species. Anything produced in this way is called a Transgenic Organism. Existing transgenic organisms range from virus-resistant papaya to glow-in-the-dark gold fish. GMOs can involve plants and animals as well as viruses and bacteria.
Sound creepy? Well, Australia, the EU, Japan and around sixty other countries think so. They’ve either strictly regulated or banned the use of technology. Here in the US, though, we aren’t regulating the use of GMOs. What’s more, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has approved a number of GMO compounds based solely on the safety testing and studies of the companies who create and sell the GMOs!
If this all sounds a bit dicey to you, you’re not alone. There are a growing number of consumers calling for closer regulations and inspections for our food. They’re advocating for real, independent, rigorous scientific examination of what exactly is in our food and the long-term health effects of eating it. An easy way to determine whether or not a product is or contains anything genetically modified is to go to the NON-GMO Project’s web page. There they’ve compiled a list of certifiably verified non-gmo products, many of which we carry here at Nature’s Corner. So far no one really labels their products as being genetically modified so you have to look for the Non-GMO labeling.
The practice and protocol (not to mention legislation) on genetic modification is constantly changing. Keep checking back in here. We’ll keep updating so you can stay informed!