What are GMO’s and does Seattle Sutton’s Healthy Eating have them?
GMO stands for genetically modified organism. According to the World Health Organization, GMOs are defined as “organisms (i.e., plants, animals or microorganisms) in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination.” Generally, this means the insertion or deletion of genes in an existing plant’s genome to highlight desirable attributes. For example, some crops have been engineered to be insect or herbicide resistant to potentially reduce the need for insecticides or herbicides in commercial farming. Some scientists, however, think this definition of GMOs is too narrow, and that virtually all plants humans eat today are the result of genetic modification.
Rigorous testing and studies have shown no major health risks associated with eating GMOs. Regarding safety, the vast majority of scientists believe that GMO’s are not harmful for human consumption.
Currently in the United States, the FDA does not require food manufacturers to label food or ingredients as GMO or non-GMO, thus making it difficult for companies who create a wide variety of pre-packaged meals to determine whether ingredients are made with GMO or non-GMO ingredients. Additionally, getting foods or ingredients approved as a non-GMO ingredients can be an expensive process which can be a deterrent for food companies. So even though some foods may be non-GMO, they are not labeled as such.
At Seattle Sutton’s Healthy Eating, we source a wide variety of ingredients from a wide variety of retailers. Without a regulation requiring food manufacturers to disclose this information, it makes it nearly impossible for us to determine the GMO status of the ingredients we use. Without the scientific data to show a safety concern, we do not feel it necessary to source only non-GMO certified produce and non-GMO raw product ingredients.