Organic Processing Vo1.7 #1 - January/February 2010

Managing
Non-GMO Update:
Verification Program Reaching Critical Mass

By Ken Roseboro

The trend toward non-GMO verification expanded dramatically in 2009, with more than 3000 products from 50 brands now enrolled in the Non-GMO Project, a collaborative industry initiative to verify that foods and other consumer products don’t contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs). In addition, Whole Foods Market, the nation’s leading natural food retailer, announced last June that it would verify its private label products through the Non-GMO Project.

The Non-GMO Project’s Product Verification Program (PVP) represents the nation’s first system designed to scientifically test whether a product has met a set of defined standards for the presence of GMOs. The program is designed to help identify issues of contamination early on and then work with farmers and processors through continuous improvement to prevent future risk. The PVP combines on-site facility audits, document-based review and DNA testing to measure compliance with the standard. For a product to display the Non-GMO seal, it must undergo a process through which any ingredient at risk for genetic contamination—such as corn or soy—has been shown to meet the non-GMO standard through identity preservation measures and testing.

While many companies in the organic industry support the Non-GMO Project, there are some that have questions about how the Non-GMO standard may affect organic farmers and the credibility of the USDA organic seal. No matter what, the GMO threat can’t be ignored, but as the industry continues to rally together, actions can be taken to keep GMOs out of organic.

Continued GMO Threat

The percentage of GMO crops has continued to increase at an alarming rate. In 2009, genetically modified varieties accounted for 91 percent of soybeans, 85 percent of corn, 88 percent of cotton, and, according to industry claims, 95 percent of sugar beets.

Today, GMO contamination is more than just a threat—it’s a reality. A recent contamination incident involving a genetically modified flax variety underscored the challenge of containing GMOs. Last September, an unapproved GM flax variety was discovered in Canadian flax exports to Europe. The GM flax was later discovered in cereals and baking products in some 28 countries, mostly in the European Union, but also in Japan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Korea and Singapore. The EU reported some 30 incidents of GM flax contamination.

What makes the contamination especially troubling is the fact that the GM flax was developed in the late 1990s but was never grown commercially. In 2001, the Flax Council of Canada asked the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to make the flax illegal to grow, fearing a contamination incident would jeopardize Canada’s flax export market. Those fears have been realized eight years later.

“This is a major international contamination incident that shows how dangerous any GM crop field testing and development is for farmers and consumers,” says Arnold Taylor, an organic flax grower and chair of the Organic Agriculture Protection Fund of the Saskatchewan Organic Directorate.