10 Ways to Spring Clean GMOs Out of Your Home

GMOs (genet­i­cally mod­i­fied organ­isms) are plants or ani­mals cre­ated through the gene splic­ing tech­niques of biotech­nol­ogy. These are organ­isms that would never occur nat­u­rally in nature.  There are many risks asso­ci­ated with GMOs, but for me I keep them out of my home because I have no inter­est in feed­ing my fam­ily exper­i­men­tal foods. I feel very unset­tled about the stud­ies show­ing poten­tial long-term health con­se­quences from the con­sump­tion of GMOs–there is so much that we don’t know about these engi­neered “foods.” I also believe that one of the most pow­er­ful things I can do as a con­sumer is to vote with my wallet–why would I pur­chase food that is unhealthy for my fam­ily and the environment?

If you are ready to spring clean GMOs out of your diet, here are ten easy steps to help you give GMOs the boot:

1) Kick-out the high GMO risk break­fast cereal
If your break­fast cereal con­tains corn, soy, or canola (as most do), it likely con­tains GMOs. Make sure that your cereal is Non-GMO Project Verified. The Non-GMO Project has a fan­tas­tic selec­tion of ver­i­fied break­fast foods.

2) Use canola oil wisely
Approximately 90% of the canola in the United States is GMO, so if you choose to use canola oil make sure you buy a Non-GMO Project Verified prod­uct. If you can’t find a ver­i­fied canola oil in your local store, you can also switch high-risk canola for a low-risk alter­na­tive like olive oil (for low tem­per­a­ture cook­ing) and unre­fined coconut oil (for high tem­per­a­ture cooking).

3) Remember that “nat­ural” doesn’t always mean what you think it does
“Natural” prod­ucts are just as likely to be GMO as con­ven­tional prod­ucts. Even nat­ural prod­ucts pur­chased at the health food store may con­tain GMOs. Need help find­ing ver­i­fied prod­ucts when you are shop­ping? Download the Non-GMO Project iPhone app from the Apple store.

4) Pack a non-GMO lunch­box
Keep your fam­ily eat­ing non-GMO when they are at school and work, by pack­ing a non-GMO lunch. Many lunch items like gra­nola bars, lunch­meats, and snack packs con­tain ingre­di­ents that are most likely GMO. Corn, soy, and canola are every­where! Luckily, there are many great Non-GMO Project Verified lunch foods. Trying chang­ing one lunch item at a time to help your fam­ily tran­si­tion to food that is non-GMO. Here are some great options: snack foods, breads and crack­ers, frozen meals, and treats.

5) Give your soy prod­ucts an over­haul
Soy is present in a huge amount of processed foods, from the obvi­ous soy foods like soy milk, tofu, and soy sauce, to almost all pack­aged snack bars, meats, breads, etc.  Soy is every­where! Since over 94% of soy in the United States is GMO, it’s impor­tant to make sure your soy prod­ucts are Non-GMO Project Verified when­ever possible.

6) Be skep­ti­cal of corn prod­ucts
Our fam­ily loves Mexican food, how­ever with 88% of U.S. corn now being genet­i­cally engi­neered, we had to look for non-GMO alter­na­tives to our favorite prod­ucts. Thankfully, there are many deli­cious ver­i­fied chip and tor­tilla (search: tor­tillas) brands. Like soy, corn shows up where you least expect it. Be a label sleuth!

7) Look for hid­den GMO ingre­di­ents
GMOs may be hid­den in com­mon processed food ingre­di­ents such as: Amino Acids, Aspartame, Ascorbic Acid, Sodium Ascorbate, Vitamin C, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Flavorings (“nat­ural” and “arti­fi­cial”), High Fructose Corn Syrup, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein, Lactic Acid, Maltodextrins, Molasses, Monosodium Glutamate, Sucrose, Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP), Xanthan Gum, Vitamins, Yeast Products.

8 ) Satisfy your sweet tooth with non-GMO treats
In our cul­ture, it is not uncom­mon to cel­e­brate or show our appre­ci­a­tion with treats. Unfortunately, many can­dies and other pack­aged sweets are full of beet sugar, soy, and corn–all very high GMO risk ingre­di­ents. Make sure you are treat­ing your fam­ily with non-GMO good­ies!

9) Be proac­tive
If there is a prod­uct listed on our web­site that is not car­ried at your local gro­cery store, ask your local retailer to see if they can stock it. Most retail­ers are happy to try and ful­fill cus­tomer requests. If there is a brand that you would like to see become Non-GMO Project Verified, make a prod­uct ver­i­fi­ca­tion request.

10) Become a GMO risk reduc­tion ninja!
First, learn what crops are GMO–thank­fully, the list is short. Second, make a list of the foods your fam­ily eats the most often. Next, find a Non-GMO Project Verified alter­na­tive. If you can’t find a ver­i­fied alter­na­tive, look for a cer­ti­fied organic option. If all else fails, looks for a low risk alter­na­tive to a high GMO risk product.