The Grazing Mind

As part of Silk’s ongoing commitment to educate consumers about what’s in their food, the entire plant-based beverage portfolio is enrolled in or verified by the Non-GMO Project. The Non-GMO Project provides independent verification that Silk’s products are made without GMOs, earning The Non-GMO Project Verified seal.

We recently launched a new, exciting product – Silk Iced Latte. At the time of launch, this product was enrolled in the Non-GMO Project program, and we are happy to report that it’s now officially verified. The Iced Latte packaging will be updated in June with the Non-GMO Project Verified logo, giving our consumers the opportunity to make informed choices about the foods and beverages they eat and drink.

We believe people have a right to know what’s in the food they eat. That’s why we openly share information about the food we make and how we make it.

GMO labeling is an important issue for our Silk and Horizon brands and has been for many years. Silk and Horizon both take a proactive stance against GMOs and significantly support national GMO labeling initiatives.

Why do we support national labeling efforts?

National labeling initiatives make more sense for people and food companies than an inconsistent and confusing, costly patchwork of state-by-state labeling rules (like Prop 37 in California, Measure 27 in Oregon, I-522 in Washington).

In total, Silk and Horizon have donated nearly $500,000 to help support national Non-GMO initiatives through their involvement in campaigns and initiatives like: the Non-GMO Project, the Right to Know March, the soon-to-be-released documentary film “GMO OMG” and Just Label It!, which calls for universal, national labeling of GMOs. We educate millions of people each year about the Non-GMO Project and organic agriculture through our on-pack labeling, print advertising, website and social media outlets.

Silk is a founding member of the Non-GMO Project, North America’s only third party verification and labeling for non-GMO food and products, and we have enrolled our entire portfolio in their verification process. Ensuring people have access to information about the food we make is the reason we created Silk’s “Trace it” website where people can track every soybean in our products down to the field where it was grown.

Horizon has given more than $1 million over the years to The Organic Center, the Organic Trade Association and the Organic Farming Research Foundation to support the organic foods industry. As you probably know, all of Horizon’s products carry the USDA Organic Seal, and have been certified organic for more than 20 years. Consumers know and trust that the certified organic label means their food is produced without the use of pesticides, antibiotics, added growth hormones, and GMOs.

We believe people have a right to make informed choices about the food they eat. We remain as committed as ever to helping educate consumers about GMOs and we will continue supporting national GMO labeling efforts that will help consumers in all 50 states.

Proposition 37 is a current California ballot initiative that if passed would require foods that may have been produced with genetically modified ingredients to be labeled as such. Some are calling it a possible watershed moment in the fight for national labeling of GMOs. Others feel it would bring complexity, added expense and confusion for consumers.

So where does WhiteWave stand?

While we support the underlying principles of Prop. 37, we choose to throw our support behind national initiatives that will help consumers in all fifty states. Our brands are inherently part of the GMO labeling push:

• Our Silk brand’s entire plant-based beverage portfolio is verified by the Non-GMO Project, and proudly carries the Non-GMO Verified logo.

• Our Horizon Organic brand has been certified organic for more than 20 years. People have come to know and trust that the certified organic label means their food is produced without the use of pesticides, antibiotics, added growth hormones and GMOs.

Across our entire portfolio we believe consumers have the right to make informed choices about the foods they eat, and as mentioned earlier labeling is a very big part of that. Today 85 percent of our products are non-GMO, and we are working to move additional ingredients in our portfolio to non-GMO.

Because of our recent IPO filing we are currently limited in what we can say about anything else as it relates to our company, as we are in a legally mandated quiet period.

If you have questions on this issue related to Dean Foods, please contact them directly – DeanFoods@CaSupport.com

Congratulations to Just Label It (JLI), which just surpassed 1,000,000 signatures asking the FDA to label genetically engineered foods. Just Label It is a national coalition of 500 diverse organizations dedicated to the mandatory labeling of genetically engineered (GE) foods, also referered to as genetically modified, or GMOs. In less than 180 days the group compiled a record number of public comments.

To build on the million signatures, the JLI folks today also revealed national survey results showing that more than nine out of 10 Americans support the labeling of genetically engineered food. Not 9 out of 10 Republicans, or Democrats or Independents. Americans in general are showing overwhelming support for GMO labeling, and that’s some pretty encouraging news.

Check out the infographic below for more details on what the survey was able to capture, and congrats again to Just Label It:

Later this week, tens of thousands of natural food and products fanatics will descend on the Anaheim Convention center for Expo West; the nation’s largest expo of its kind. It brings together 50,000+ attendees navigating a labyrinth of  2,000+ booths filled to the brim with snacks, samples and pitch teams ready and willing to tell you why what they’re selling is great.

It’s the kind of event that brings together the industry’s best and brightest. Which means the only thing better than the snacks and tchotchkes, is the conversation. Conversations around what’s working well in the natural industry, what needs help, who’s new and who’s doing it right. Only problem is, not everyone gets to hear those conversations… that’s where we come in.

Introducing Patio Chats. A new feature to the WhiteWave booth meant to bring more of those great conversations, to more people. We’ll be covering a number of topics relevant to our business and the industry in general, and all are welcome to attend.

Check out the invite and list of topics below, and stay tuned to The Grazing Mind for more details around what’s going down this year at Expo West…

(if you’re tweeting at Expo West, be sure to follow the #PatChats hash tag for even more conversation and sharing)

The average grocery store stocks about 45,000 different products. That sounds like a lot of choice, certainly, but when it comes to one of most important choices of all – whether to choose food without genetically engineered (GE) ingredients – American consumers are still in the dark.

Although we require food manufacturers to list every ingredient in their products, we don’t require labeling to note whether those products contain genes from another plant or animal. According to a 2010 poll from Thomson Reuters, 93 percent of Americans want to see that policy changed. As a concerned father of three kids and the head of one of the country’s largest organic and natural brands, Silk, I am one of those Americans, and believe that the FDA should require the labeling of all products containing GE ingredients.

October is Non-GMO Month, making it the perfect time to elevate this issue and ensure consumers understand what’s at stake, what needs to change and how we can influence this change.

Many consumers may be surprised to learn that 80 percent of all processed foods contain ingredients created through genetic engineering. These processes combine the genetic code of different species to produce new food products like strawberries with flounder genes and corn that kills insects on its own. Because there is no requirement to label GE foods, these products look identical to their non-GE counterparts on grocery store shelves. Unless you purchase only organic food products, which under USDA standards can’t contain GE ingredients, there is no way to know whether the items in your shopping cart contain GE ingredients.

That should rightly concern many of us given the fact that GE foods carry documented health risks, including reproductive, immune, gastrointestinal and organ problems. The American Academy of Environmental Medicine is so concerned that it has encouraged all physicians to prescribe non-GMO diets to their patients, and the European Union, Japan and Australia all require labeling of GE products.

It’s time for the FDA to take action to require the mandatory labeling of GE foods. Consumers deserve the right to know what they’re eating and feeding their families, along with more control over their purchasing decisions.

To that end, we at Silk have partnered with hundreds of other businesses and organizations, including our sister company Horizon Organic, to pledge our support of the Just Label It! – We Have a Right to Know campaign. The campaign is focused on seeking consumer support for a petition to the FDA to require the mandatory labeling of GE foods.

In addition, earlier this month, concerned citizens and organizations also made their voices heard on this issue with the Right2Know March, a 16-day walk from New York City to the White House in support of a government-backed GE labeling standard.

These efforts are a great start in the fight for mandatory labeling of GE ingredients but the process may take a long time. So many of us in the organic and natural foods community are working to help consumers have more control now by enrolling our products in the Non-GMO Project, a multi-stakeholder collaboration committed to preserving and building sources of non-GMO products, educating consumers, and providing verified non-GMO choices. To date, more than 900 products, including all Silk beverage products, have been verified through the program and carry the Non-GMO Project verification seal.

The work being done by companies like mine is starting to move the needle, but consumers hold the real key to change. In addition to purchasing products with The Non-GMO Project seal, they can visit  www.justlabelit.org and submit a comment in support of the mandatory labeling of GE ingredients. They can also support the cause by becoming educated on the issue and discussing it with friends, families and colleagues. The fastest route to bringing more choice to our grocery aisles is through the collective voice and purchasing power we hold as consumers.

At WhiteWave, we believe people deserve to have a choice when it comes to food. Which is why throughout October, we’re supporting a variety of activities aimed at growing awareness around GMOs. One such activity is the Right2Know March, which kicked off in New York at the beginning of the month, and is now making it’s way along the East coast, set to finish up in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, October 16. The March itself is just one of the ways people are working to raise awareness around the issue of GMOs, and the call for mandatory labeling so that people can truly have a choice when it comes to food.

Check out these links for more info on the Right2Know March, and all the other activities going on this month. And stay tuned to The Grazing Mind for a full recap of the Right2Know March from our very own Kelly Shea, who’s slated to speak as part of the closing ceremonies in Washington this weekend.

Yep. 93% of Americans think genetically engineered (GE) foods should be labeled. We agree, and that’s why we’ve teamed up with a whole host of other like-minded companies and organizations to launch the Just Label It! campaign; a initiative designed to advocate for the labeling of GE foods.

“We hope to raise awareness of this issue, drive consumers to submit comments to the FDA and let Washington know that Americans want labeling of genetically engineered foods.”

Check out the site, and sign the petition today!

Boulder County (Colorado) currently allows the planting of GMO corn on publicly owned open space. But that might soon be changing if the folks at GMO Free Boulder have anything to say about it.

As part of a larger campaign to keep GMOs out of Boulder, yesterday the group participated in The Big Boulder Shutdown – an event designed to sway officials toward developing new rules around agricultural practices in Boulder County; agricultural practices that don’t allow GMOs.

Members of our Silk team were there to support the event, as was Ellen Feeney, our Vice President of Responsible Livelihood, who sat on a panel for Alex Bogusky’s Fearless Revolution show (which you can watch in its entirety below).

Yet another example of how consumers are standing up for more information around what’s in their food, and how that food is being produced.

Courtesy of TreeHugger, a tantalizing look at large-scale indoor farming… no sunlight required.

From the article:

“CBS news reports that Dutch bioengineers, including Gertjan Meeuws of PlatLab, are taking the idea of greenhouses to the next level. Their idea of growhouses would exclude all natural input and be entirely controlled from the inside, including artificial lighting, a perfectly regulated climate for that crop, and precise watering.”

Big possibilities – no need for pesticides; less water use; potential urban and vertical farming operations; wind and solar energy reliant.. and according to proponents of the concept, a little more than 1,000 square feet could provide enough food for 140,000 people.

But, big questions as well – will the food be as nutritious as the sun grown stuff?

An even larger question that comes to mind – could this be a solution to the growing concern over GMO seed contamination across non-GMO crops?

“Coexistence” has been a much debated concept throughout the current argument around GMOs. There’s talk of “buffer zones” and other preventative measures that are or will be put in place to keep GMO/Non-GMO seeds from mingling, but let’s be honest… the wind is the ultimate decider in that argument. Could these massive indoor farms be the force field we’ve been looking for?