Non-GMO Month October!

By: Allison Carpenter, Community Outreach

October is Non-GMO month! What’s Non-GMO month you ask? Non-GMO month is a campaign that was launched in 2010 by the Non-GMO Project in order to spread wider awareness of the Non-GMO Project, concerns of GMOs and the efforts of individuals and groups on right to know legislation, and legislation that could take away our right to know.

According to Non-GMO project:  “Every October, Non-GMO Month provides a powerful opportunity to coordinate our voices and our actions. Across North America brands, retailers and individuals stand up for our right to know what’s in our food, and to choose non-GMO.”
 

We use the phrase “Look for the Butterfly”. If you see the Non-GMO logo—epitomized by an orange Butterfly—on a product in store, you can trust that the product has passed a stringent and highly detailed testing and verification process:

From the Non-GMO Project Website:

What does “Non-GMO Project Verified seal” mean?

The verification seal indicates that the product bearing the seal has gone through our verification process. Our verification is an assurance that a product has been produced according to consensus-based best practices for GMO avoidance:

• We require ongoing testing of all at-risk ingredients—any ingredient being grown commercially in GMO form must be tested prior to use in a verified product.
• We use an Action Threshold of 0.9%. This is in alignment with laws in the European Union (where any product containing more than 0.9% GMO must be labeled). Absence of all GMOs is the target for all Non-GMO Project Standard compliant products. Continuous improvement practices toward achieving this goal must be part of the Participant’s quality management systems.
• After the test, we require rigorous traceability and segregation practices to be followed in order to ensure ingredient integrity through to the finished product.
•  For low-risk ingredients, we conduct a thorough review of ingredient specification sheets to determine absence of GMO risk.
• Verification is maintained through an annual audit, along with onsite inspections for high-risk products.

      Want to know more about Non-GMO month? Visit the Non-GMO month website, or come into Berryvale and pick up our informational materials located on our magazine rack near the cafe. We’ll be there to greet you and answer questions you have about Non-GMO verified products. We’ll also have featured Non-GMO verified products throughout the month, and tote bag giveaways stuffed with goodies! Don’t miss it!

Stay tuned for more blogs and social media posts about Non-GMO and the Non-GMO Project!