You may have come across some pesky charts circulating that compare Non-GMO Project and USDA Organic labels. These paint a misleading picture, so we’re here to clarify. 🔍
When organic and Non-GMO Project labels are compared side by side, it makes them seem like they’re trying to do the same thing. They aren’t.
The Non-GMO Project focuses on one thing only: avoiding GMOs. That singular focus - and our clearly defined Standard - sets us apart from other certifications when it comes to genetically modified ingredients. This includes requiring documentation and testing to verify those claims. The Non-GMO Project does not evaluate other issues listed in those charts, such as hexane use or sewage sludge, because those are not GMOs. 🙂↔️
We strongly support sustainable, ethical, and regenerative farming, including the principles behind organic agriculture. Healing our food system is a collective effort. Our contribution to that broader aim is supporting a non-GMO food supply, and we’re proud to uphold the strongest standard to do exactly that. 🧡
🦋 As an independent nonprofit, we operate directly within the retail food system and make an impact larger than would be possible under the scope of federal law. Our non-GMO Standard is significantly more rigorous than the federal labeling law, and our definition captures products NBFDS lets slide through the cracks.
🚫 We consider all products made through new techniques like CRISPR to be GMOs. Products made from high-risk crops such as refined sugar or canola oil must come from non-GMO sources in order to earn the Butterfly.
🚦 The Butterfly offers clear, consistent labeling, providing consumers who wish to avoid GMOs an easy “green light” in the grocery store.
What’s the scoop on “cell-cultivated meats”? 🧫 🍗
You might have seen news that Bill Gates is funding a meat company that makes lab-grown chicken using cells that can replicate indefinitely… similarly to aggressive cancers and tumors.
There is still very little transparency around how these products are made, and current labeling standards don’t require clear bioengineered disclosure for cultivated meat products.
Should these products be marketed the same way as conventional meats?
We certainly don’t think so 🙂↔️🙂↔️
Industrialized food systems strip us of something beyond individual and planetary health: our pleasure.
In the name of efficiency, we lose the satisfaction of knowing where our food comes from and how it was grown. The joy of imperfection, seasonality, and variety.
We’re working toward a food system that is not only more transparent and resilient, but more pleasurable. 🌸 🫛
🦋 @nongmoproject and @nonupfverified are not two disparate food certifications, but a framework for supporting true food integrity.
➡️ GMOs serve as foundational ingredients for many ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) with crops like corn, soy, canola, and sugar beets genetically engineered for industrial, high-yield agricultural production. These GMO crops are then processed into additives, sweeteners, and oils found in an estimated 70% of food on grocery store shelves.
More at the 🔗 in bio.
We talk a lot about the tangible impacts of our food system: how it shapes our health, ecosystems, and justice.
But there’s another dimension to what we eat. Food is the original relationship. It is a life-affirming expression of culture and continuity - of being part of something that didn’t start with us, and won’t end with us.
In the most ordinary, essential way, it holds us together.
Quote courtesy of @thinink ✍️
Follow the Substack 🔗 in our bio to read on.
In honor of the International Day of Peasant Struggles, we recognize the rights of peasant and Indigenous communities to their lands and territories. Land rights and seed sovereignty are expressions of the same struggle, rooted in the same structural causes.
When agricultural land is kept in the hands of small-scale food producers- instead of multinational corporations - communities have agency over what they grow, stewarding diverse, localized seed varieties that have sustained life for generations. 🫘
Through the Free the Seed Alliance, we’re calling on brands to sign our public declaration defending seed sovereignty, global biodiversity and farmers’ autonomy. Use your platforms to stand openly with the farmers and Indigenous leaders guarding life at its source, reclaiming seeds as a living commons.
🔗 To learn more, visit freetheseed.org at the link in our bio.
Ever wondered what it means for animal products like eggs to be Non-GMO Verified? 🤔 🥚
🦋 Even though eggs themselves aren’t genetically modified, we consider them high risk because of what hens are fed. In industrial systems, that often means GMO corn and soy. For eggs to earn the Butterfly, hens must be raised on a non-GMO diet.
🔍 Look out for our label the next time you're buying eggs to help build a future where what we feed animals (and ourselves!!) aligns with the food system we want to see.
💭 The precautionary principle is a foundation of environmental and food systems policy. At the Non-GMO Project, it’s also a guiding force in our work and mission.
When it comes to defending life, we won’t be waiting around until the damage has already been done before we take meaningful action. Will you? 🙂↔️🙂↔️
FOOD ACCESS | Systemic Inequalities
Who gets to eat well is not a matter of choice. It is shaped by histories of extraction, labour, and global supply chains that continue to define access today.
While some communities can afford healthy diets, others face rising costs, low wages, and limited availability. At the same time, those producing food often remain underpaid, while environmental damage is concentrated in already vulnerable regions.
Research from the EAT-Lancet Commission shows that most people still cannot access diets that are both healthy and environmentally sustainable. This is not a failure of individuals, but of systems.
Food justice requires structural change. From fair wages and equitable supply chains to community-led agriculture, solutions already exist. The question is how they are scaled and who is included.
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This post was developed in conversation with collaborators including @nongmoproject and @foodintegritycollective , whose work examines power, transparency, and justice across food systems.
If you are interested in these topics, you might be inspired by the Food and Art Alternative MA by The Gramounce (@thegramounce ).
This is a unique two-year course focusing on food practices as political subjects in contemporary art and culture, navigating the intersection of culinary histories, socially engaged art, political discourse and ecological understandings to critically explore contemporary tensions and possibilities through food.
Learn more and apply via The Gramounce’s open call. Sign-ups for the full altMA are open until 29 March. Link in bio 🔗
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#foodjustice #climatejustice #foodsystems #systemicchange #inequality
