"Most Americans aren't familiar with GMOs or aware of the extent of their use in food," explains Joe Dickson, Whole Foods Market's food, organic and environmental quality standards coordinator. "We invite our communities to stop by our stores and learn more about this issue. Together as consumers and retailers, we can make a difference and preserve our access to food produced without the intentional use of GMOs."
“The Grocery Manufacturers Association estimates GMOs are in close to 80% of conventional processed food, and the figure may be even higher if you factor in ingredients from animals fed a GMO diet,” a Whole Foods Market spokesperson told MEATPOULTRY.com.
As part of the company’s campaign, it is promoting The Non-GMO Project, a process-based standard that avoids the intentional use of GMO ingredients by providing suppliers with procedures and best practices for minimizing the presence of GMO ingredients.
“The Non-GMO Project does consider animal ingredients to be high-risk items, due to GMO contamination in feed.”
Whole Foods Market currently carries more than 800 products that are verified by the Non-GMO project, with thousands more in the pipeline. Many of those will be on display and available for tasting demonstrations at Whole Foods Market stores across the country on Sunday.
