>>>Labeling GE Foods >>>Supermarkets and GE Foods
Download our brand new Pocket Shoppers’ Guide to Avoiding GE Foods – Updated for 2009!
After a long wait, we are pleased to announce the arrival of our updated, portable pocket shoppers’ guide to help you find and avoid GE ingredients wherever you shop. Our guide gives you valuable information on common GE ingredients, brands to look for, and look out for, and common sense tips to keep you in the know. Stop shopping in the dark and download your new pocket shoppers’ guide today! In the coming weeks, the Guide will be available in several formats online and in print. Stay tuned to find out how to order your copy!
Go behind the label and get the facts on genetically engineered foods. What’s going on ‘behind the label’ of the food on our supermarket shelves in the United States? A secret genetic experiment… and you should know that just because it’s not listed on labels, doesn’t mean it’s not there. So what’s an American consumer to do? Go behind the label!
A guide to the list
The Non-GMO Shopping Guide was compiled because you have the right to know what’s in your food! Today, thousands of products on supermarket shelves are made with ingredients from genetically engineered (GE) crops. But GE foods are not labeled in the U.S., despite warnings from doctors and scientists that these foods may not be safe in the diet or the environment.
The list focuses on foods made with ingredients that are commonly derived from GE crops. The most widely grown GE crops, accounting for nearly 99% of the GE crop acreage in North America, are corn, soy, canola and cotton. The list does not include foods that are not yet genetically engineered, such as most fruits and vegetables, olive oils, whole wheat or rice products, or other foods that do not contain GE ingredients on the market. Additionally, as GE ingredients are NOT allowed in organic food production, they are not included in full in this list. Check out our Organics page to find out more about organic products.
Working together with the Institute for Responsible Technology’s Campaign for Healthier Eating in America, we compiled the list primarily from direct communications with food producers. In some cases, we received company policy statements from consumers who passed these on to us. In addition to written statements, we spoke to many company representatives to clarify or assess their position. Products on the RED list contain ingredients that come from the most common GE crops (corn, soy, canola, cotton). Companies with products on this list have confirmed that their products may have or are likely to be made with GE ingredients, or have not denied using GE foods when given the opportunity to do so. Companies on the GREEN list have made a concerted effort to avoid GE ingredients and have company policies asserting their position on avoiding GE foods.
As ingredients change in products all the time, the best thing is to check the ingredients list of the products you buy often. Keep a look out for:
Corn: corn oil, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, corn starch, corn meal
Soy: soy protein, soy lecithin, soy oil, soy sauce, soy isolates
Canola: canola oil
Cotton: cottonseed oil
where is your pocket shoppers guide? I want one desperately!
Oops! We seem to have had a technical problem with the image and link. It is fixed now, so just click on the picture of the shoppers guide and you can save the guide, or print it (8 1/2 x 11, landscape).
Please, let me know how to print the list. I just need it!!!
nispero – Just click on the picture of the shoppers guide above, and it shoudld pull up another window containing a PDF file of the guide in 8.5 x 11 format so you can print it. Make sure you choose “lanscape” (not portrait) when you print. Hope that helps!
How come strawberries are not on your pocket guide ??
napabelle,
Thank you for your great question! We have not included strawberries in the pocket Shoppers’ Guide because there are no genetically engineered strawberries on the market. While GE strawberries have been experimented with, they have thankfully not been commercialized, so you will not find them for sale.
Because the guide is small in order to be portable, we have limited the listings to products that contain the four major GE crop ingredients: corn, soy, cottonseed oil, and canola oil.
For more information on GE crop field trails and GE-free fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts and grains, check out this page: http://truefoodnow.org/genetically-engineered-foods/ge-crops/. If you scroll down towards the bottom of the page you’ll find a section called “crops in the pipeline” which lists experimental and commercialized varieties.
Aren’t tomatoes now predominantly GE? What about potatoes?
[...] “True Food Network” has a supermarket pocket shoppers guide that you can print and take with you to the grocery [...]
Hi there, I live in Canada. It seems your shoppers guide to avoiding GE Foods references grocery stores in the states. Is there anywhere I can find that has a guide to Canadian GE foods? Do you know if Canada is required to label its food as GE? Is there a comparable True Food Now website for Canada?
Thanks
[...] little frightening. To free yourself from as much Genetically Modified food as possible, download True Food’s Shopper’s Guide To Avoiding GM Foods, a handy list to have on your next grocery [...]
Is your supermarket pocket shoppers guide updated?
I thought many conventional rice crops were, and wheat is ready to be planted now.
Today’s date is 23 June 2009
This is terrifying what Monsanto and the Bush-Obama Administrations are doing. I’m chemically sensitive and dependent upon organic food, which I’ve ingested for more than 20 years.
At nearly 70, with a total knee and hip replacement, there is no way I can grow my own food. What good is health care reform when there is a potential for this new food to cause more damage to our health. Physicians aren’t given the right to know, alike the rest of us. And, most physicians know zero about pesticide poisoning or what questions to ask…so I’ve learned.
Thanks, again.
Hi,
I can’t get to the guide. When i click on the picture I go to the Center for Food Safety. org. My guide is from 2001. I assume you have a newer one, no?
Thanks.
I just uploaded our latest version. You can download it here: http://truefoodnow.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/web_new-ge-booklet.pdf
Thanks for your comment, Bunny Snow. GM wheat and Rice have both been approved for commercialization, but neither have been planted commercially in the US due to farmer and citizen rejection. Monsanto’s GM RoundUp Ready wheat is the closest to commercialization, but to date, US and Canadian far,ers are still predominantly opposed to its introduction. The primary GM crops on the market now are corn, soy, canola, and cotton (cottonseed oil is in lots of processed foods). There is a small amount of GE sweet (fresh) corn, yellow crokkneck (summer) squash and radiccio, but these are uncommon. Additionally, about 50% of the papaya grown in Hawaii is GM, so you can look for papaya grown elsewhere, organic papaya, or avoid it altogether.
Sorry it took me so long to respond to this post! I guess it got lost in the shuffle somewhere. Greenpeace Canada used to have a great Shoppers’ Guide, but I don’t see it on their site anymore. The best I found was a list of where to buy organics in Canada: http://www.cog.ca/buyorganic.htm. You may want to contact Greenpeace Canada and see if they still produce the guide, or if they know of anyone else who does. Good luck!
[...] [...]
Australian citizens have a clear choice marked on each product, either GMO or non GMO..But here in the the Land of the Free, our government does not have to label products. Why?
What studies have been made and what were the results, before we added GMOs to our foods?
I am so happy to have finally found a guide! I would love the pocket guide as an ipod app so I can scroll it at the store. I am so glad to have found this website.
[...] and I finished the film we hopped online to try and find a list of GMO-Free Foods. We found a Non-GMO Shopping Guide, which lists brands of food that are known to not contain genetic modifications. I was shocked to [...]
[...] so watch out. The True Food Network has a helpful pamphlet that you can download with about 75 “Invisible GM Ingredients” to look out [...]
THANK YOU SOO MUCH FOR THIS WEBSITE!
I am an undergrad in California and I am doing research paper on the GMO’s..I wanted to make a list of the food that has GMO’s on our campus. I have been struggling for weeks. There is NO information on what has and does not have?!?!
THANKS
I’ve read that the agricultural industries of India and the U.S. want to put nanomachines in all food crops. Will you actively oppose this? Got petitions?
We have a campaign called NanoAction that focuses exclusively on nanotechnology and synthetic biology. You can check it out and take action here” http://www.nanoaction.org
Because there is no mandatory labelling of GMOs in the U.S., the best thing to do is check out our Non-GMO Shopping Guide for tips to avoid GMOs. With campus meals it is more difficult since you don’t often see the package, but you can ask campus food service where they purchase their food products and inquire with that company. Please feel free to send us an email at info@truefoodnow.org if you’d like more information or help on how to move forward.
Is it true that companies whose products do NOT contain GMO ingredients, are not allowed to label as such? I live in Canada and have definitely noticed that I cannot find items that actually SAY they do not include GMOs. I try to buy orgnic as much as possible because that seems to be my only chance of avoiding GMOs as much as possible!! Great website – thank you!
[...] Download the CFS Shoppers Guide [...]
Hi, where is the pocket guide? this is too big to carry around. There has to be smaller version to carry around with you. Its too much!!
Do you have a list of non-GE corn, soy, canola and cotton brands? I love edename, corn tortilla chips, soy milk, corn bread, etc. How can I make sure that I’m not consuming GE product and still enjoy these staples?
This was an interesting read, I’m always on the lookout for great articles and blog ideas so thanks. I’ve bookmarked this article so I’ll stay in touch!
For gardeners a list of seed companies who do not sell GMO seeds and/or buy from Monsanto (or the companies they own) would be very helpful. I have contacted some on my own but a list here would be great!
Where in the shoppers guide does it list products made with non GMO corn and soy?
None of your links to the Shoppers Guide to GMO’s work. I wanted to link your shoppers guide to my blob but it is not working. Any suggestions?