400 companies that do not use GMOs in their products

I found this on Facebook.
As I scroll through the list, it definitely looks legit.


List of 400 companies that do not use GMOs

One Woman's Experience with GMO Corn via Elle Magazine

Elle Magazine published a story of a woman's experience with GMO Corn.

I applaud Elle for being willing to publish this story.
Please read it and leave a comment for Elle thanking them for sharing this information with their readers.

The more this issue becomes mainstream, the more influence we can have on our food supply.

The Bad Seed: The Health Risks of Genetically Modified Corn

With symptoms including headaches, nausea, rashes, and fatigue, Caitlin Shetterly visited doctor after doctor searching for a cure for what ailed her. What she found, after years of misery and bafflement, was as unlikely as it was utterly common.

BY Caitlin Shetterly JULY 24, 2013

Read the full article HERE on Elle.com

True or False: Certified Organic Dairy means the animals are not fed GMO's?

Stonyfield issued a statement concerning the use of GMO feed on animals that produce the dairy for their Organic Yogurt.

Truth be told, I've thought about this before and I was always curious if you could feed a cow nonorganic feed and still call the yogurt produced organic-- as long as you don't introduce anything nonorganic to the yogurt itself.

According to Stonyfield-- to be certified organic you MUST also use organic feed.

You can read their statement HERE



I love that they are willing to clarify this for their customers.

Resource: List of NonGMO verified candies, chocolates, and sweeteners

I stumbled upon this list today.
I can't remember who had it first.
I feel bad--- since I can't give credit where credit is due.

It was posted to let people know where they can find non-GMO ingredients for their holidays sweets and desserts this weekend.

It's pretty cool.

Check it out HERE

Sometimes we feel limited (or desperate) when we start cleaning up our food--- like there is nothing left to eat. This list is BIG and makes me feel like I have so many options.

Thanks to the NONGMO Project for compiling this list!

Are GMO's already labeled?

I got this today in an email from Green Deals.
I wonder if it is true?
Anyone have any thoughts?

Take a Survey for a bag of free RW Garcia Chips

Head on over to the RW Garcia home page.
Click on the Take a Survey link.
Complete the survey and decide if you want to enter into a drawing for a $25 giftcard or be sent a coupon for a free bag of chips.

RW Garcia have the NON-GMO Project Certification.


Thank you Hip2Save for this deal

Ben and Jerry's: going GMO Free by 2014

A big fat pat on the back to Ben and Jerry's for making the goal to be completely GMO FREE by 2014.

After I read their announcement I sent them an email of support and asked for the list of 22 GMO Free flavors. I got a response in less than 24 hours. (nice work Ben and Jerry!) I firmly believe our biggest, most valuable vote is our dollar bill. Spend it wisely.

The 22 NON-GMO Flavors:

Chocolate
Coffee
Milk & Cookies
Pistachio Pistachio
Vanilla
Strawberry
Cherry Garcia
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Chocolate Fudge Brownie
Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl
Chunky Monkey
Coffee, Coffee BuzzBuzzBuzz
Half Baked
Mint Chocolate Chunk
Chocowlate Chip
Peanut Butter Cup
Mud Pie
Chocolate Nougat Crunch
What a Cluster
Red Velvet Cake
Chocolate Therapy
Mint Chocolate Cookie
Sweet Cream and Cookies

From their website:

As we've watched the debate in California on GMO labeling, it is clear to us that consumers in California and around the country want to know whether their food contains genetically modified ingredients (GMO). Ben & Jerry’s passionately believes that everyone has the right to know what’s in their food.

Here’s our status: currently, in the United States and Canada, 80% of Ben & Jerry’s ingredients by volume are already non-GMO and 22 of our flavors are fully non-GMO. We commit to sourcing non-GMO ingredients for all our products everywhere by year-end 2013. In fact all our products made outside North America are already non-GMO.

We will track our progress as we complete this conversion, with public updates on our website. Beginning now, and throughout 2013, we will transition packaging so that all Ben & Jerry’s products will be labeled with respect to GMO by 2014.

We have a long history of siding with consumers and their right to know what’s in their food. We fought long and hard for labeling of rBGH, which was the first genetically engineered technology used in the US food system. We thank and encourage all those who are continuing this fight in support of transparency and the consumer’s right to know.

Snikiddy Snacks are now GMO FREE!

Snikiddy Snacks are one of the few gluten free snacks that actually taste GOOD.
All of my family will eat them.
And that's a big deal.

So this announcement makes me very happy.
From their site:



Snikiddy Snacks are now Non-GMO!
We are so excited to announce that our snacks are now made with non-GMO ingredients! All of our snacks have been reformulated and now contain ingredients that are verified from non-GMO sources, which includes but are not limited to potatoes, corn, navy beans, sweet potatoes, carrots, rice, oils, and seasonings. This switch is part of our continued dedication to making better-for-you snacks for moms and the entire family, and were extremely proud to be able to offer snacks that are made with non-GMO ingredients.

Making our snacks with non-GMO ingredients adds to a long list of benefits that our delicious All-Natural Cheese Puffs, All-Natural Baked Fries, and Eat Your Vegetables offer, including being free of gluten and wheat and without any artificial colors, preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, hydrogenated oils or MSG! We'll snack to that!



Thank you Snikiddy for making this very important transition and taking a stand against fake food!
Hurray!

Fill out this form to print a $0.75 off coupon!

Crunchmaster Healthy Snacks: Info and Coupon

I got an email for a $1 coupon for Crunchmaster snacks.

Gluten Free
Saturated Fat Free
Peanut Free
Soy Free
Cholesterol Free
Low Sodium
100% Whole Grains

It seemed to good to be true.
I skipped on over to the website to see the list of ingredients.
Corn.
Corn.
Corn.
Yikes.

So I emailed them and asked them about GMO-corn.
Here is their response:

Melinda, 
Thank you for the nice compliment on our Crunchmaster crackers.  We are glad that you enjoy them and appreciate your business. 

Our list of certified GMO free items is located on the Non GMO project website:  http://www.nongmoproject.org/take-action/search-participating-products/search/?brandId=395.  We use 100% pure, California rice in our products.  For the items like our Original Multi-Seed crackers that have a small amount of corn used as a flow agent in the seasoning, labeled as maltodextrin [corn], we have verified that the corn is GMO free.  The tamari seasoning that we incorporated into some of our products is a wheat - free, GMO free tamari soy sauce from San - J.  For more information, see http://www.san-j.com/product_info.asp?id=3. 

We do have 3 items (Sea Salt, White Cheddar & Roasted Vegetable Multi-Grain Crackers) that contain corn as a primary ingredient.  Unfortunately, our supplier of the corn (U.S. origin) used in these items has not been able to verify that it is GMO free.  As a result, you may want to avoid these items. 

What impresses me most is the transparency and honesty.
I really appreciate that I got a response within hours of my inquiry and that I was given the exact information I needed.
So here is a link if you want to give Crunchmaster a try:

$1 off coupon

Prop 37: A letter to my friends

Dear Friends and Family, Many of you know that I have been a big supporter of Yes on Proposition 37 – the effort to require the labeling of genetically engineered food.  Right now the No on 37 Campaign is blanketing the airwaves with lies and distortions. These ads are designed to confuse you and steer you away from the fact that you have the right to know what’s in your food.  It’s important that you understand who the “No on 37” actually is.  The two largest contributors to the No on 37 Campaign – multinational agrichemical corporations Monsanto ($8.1 million) and Dupont ($4.9 million) – are the same corporations that told us Agent Orange and DDT were safe.   You can find out more about Monsanto by watching this. Then there are the junk food companies helping to bankroll the opposition such as Cocoa Cola, Pepsi, Nestle and Kellogs.  There are in fact zero donations from actual people to the No side– they are all contributions coming from multi-billion dollar corporations.   Proposition 37 was co-written by manufacturers, distributors, food safety lawyers, consumer groups, and farmers. It was put before grocers and independent certifying groups before filing. It is written to protect businesses and to pass legal scrutiny. The Proposition covers food on supermarket shelves. No cost to consumers: Adding a few words to labels costs nothing. Labeling didn’t raise costs in 61 other countries and won’t raise costs here. Read the Truth about Cost. Exemptions are common sense: Prop 37 exempts products that have no ingredient labels, such as restaurant food and alcohol. But it will cover meat from genetically engineered animals. The opposition is trying to confuse voters about exemptions.  Read the Truth about Exemptions We have thousands of endorsers such as the California Nurses Association, United Farm Workers, California Council of Churches, the Sierra Club and thousands of other endorsers you can see here. Sixty-one countries around the world - representing more than 40% of the planet's population - already require GMO labeling, including all of Europe, Japan, India and China. The right to know what is in my food and your food is not just important enough for me to vote for Prop 37 but it's why I've dedicated my time to this campaign.  Voting YES on Prop 37 will help ensure that Californians can make informed decisions about the foods we eat and feed our children.  Please vote YES and encourage others to do the same.  For more information, please visit carighttoknow.org If you would like to sign up for a phone banking shift, please visit carighttoknow.org/phone_bank

Visit LabelGMOs at: http://labelgmos.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

(I am passing this one and believe in it 100%-- I didn't write this letter though- just copying)

The Heirloom Expo

If you are in the Bay Area, you may want to attend the 2nd Annual National Heirlom Exposition in Santa Rosa, CA.

It's pretty much the biggest and best organic farmers market ever.
Plus key note speakers, exhibits, music, etc.



Buy tickets HERE

Prop 37 Some thoughts on Labeling Genetically Modified Foods

California Prop 37 would require food companies to put a label on food that contain GMO's.

If it is a single food item, like a banana, a small sign on the shelf would have to indicate that it is genetically modified. If it is a processed food, like a cookie, the package would have to say, "Made with Genetically Modified Ingredients."

Prop 37 does not require warning labels.

 It won't have to tell you "This product is made with GMO's that might explode your kidneys. I mean, it explodes the organs of bugs, but we don't know if it is hurting your organs, because the FDA doesn't make us do long term studies and it's better for our profit margin if we don't find out the answer."

It won't tell you, "This product may cause you to develop food intolerances or allergies that you've never had before because your body won't know how to recognize or process our altered food."

It won't tell you, "GMO's are heavily contaminated with pesticides that are so powerful they have been found in the placenta."

It won't tell you, "GMO's are so highly resistant to normal pesticides and bugs now that they require ultra pesticides that have resulted in ultra bugs. Nature finds a way, so we just keep making stronger poison."

It will ONLY tell you that the food you are about to eat contains a GMO.

It will be small and discreet. It will not educate you on what a GMO is or it's potential health concerns.

So WHY are so many companies spending millions of dollars to keep these few tiny words off labels?

They are so afraid if you realize what you are eating you won't eat it anymore.

There is NO OTHER REASON.

They claim it will raise the price of foods. Not true. They change labels all the time to introduce holidays, new flavors, change ingredients, etc etc. This is in their budget. It's not going to increase anything. And if GMOs really aren't any different from non-GMOs (as they claim) there shouldn't be any difference in their growth and harvesting, so it shouldn't cost any more to produce.

They claim it will hurt the poor. Not true. I have been able to switch over to 80% organic and I haven't changed my budget one cent. Give the poor some credit. If you are saying the poor only know how to eat bad quality processed boxed food, then you are insulting a great number of intelligent people. 

They claim it will increase frivolous lawsuits. Perhaps. If you continue to lie to the public and poison us, we will probably sue you. I just don't see how that's my fault though. I'm pretty sure it's yours. What you are actually saying is you don't want to pay for your actions or accept responsibility for putting dangerous food on the market.

They claim this is a ploy by organic farmers to sabatoge the mainstream food supply. The mainstream food supply is high fat, high salt, highly processed, and linked to obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, heart attack, attention deficit, neurological disorders and more. It's time we attacked our "mainstream food supply". It's time we said NO MORE. We need to demand good food. REAL FOOD. Food with accountability. In addtion, there are so many more companies besides organic farmers who are supporting this prop, as well as many medical groups, associations, and individuals.

If GMO's really were exactly the same as non-GMO's, they wouldn't care about a few words on label. 

They would be proud to identify their food. 

Do not fall for their propoganda.

If you see something about this Prop you would like me to explore and explain please pass it on.

I am happy to do it.

Companies and Organizations saying YES to 37

The List of Companies that have donated to stop Prop 37

California Right to Know Official Website

Groupon: Non-GMO Survival Seed Kit

Anybody watching Dooms Day Preppers?
Ha ha.
Here is a great deal on NON-GMO seeds.
For $25 you get $38 worth of seeds and shipping is included!!!
A $44 value! Sweet.

If you already started your garden this year, no worries, these will store for 5 years-- which is great if you think the Apocalypse is on it's way.

View the Deal HERE on Groupon

Overview:

The 20 jumbo packets of easy-to-grow heirloom fruit and vegetable seeds that rest inside an airtight metal vault stay fresh whether you plant them now or later. Triple-layered, zip-locked foil packets hold between 50 and more than 900 non-GMO seeds, which are compatible with most growing regions. The kit includes root vegetables, leafy greens, and fruits, many of which bear open-pollinated seeds that can be grown, harvested, replanted, and glued to grade school art projects into perpetuity. Detailed instructions assist green thumbs and budding gardeners alike, imparting helpful tips on planting, harvesting, and seed-saving.

What's Included:

Variety	Seed Count
Blue Lake Bush Bean	Over 150 seeds
California Wonder Bell Pepper	Over 70 seeds
Scarlet Nantes Carrot	Over 800 seeds
Marketmore Cucumber	Over 150 seeds
Parris Island Cos Romaine Lettuce	Over 900 seeds
Golden Acre Cabbage	Over 530 seeds
Detroit Dark Red Beet	Over 260 seeds
Lincoln Shell Sweet Pea	Over 100 seeds
Lucullus Swiss Chard	Over 160 seeds
Beefsteak Tomato	Over 180 seeds
Champion Radish	Over 320 seeds
Green Sprouting Broccoli	Over 500 seeds
Waltham Butternut Winter Squash	Over 100 seeds
Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach	Over 260 seeds
Yellow Sweet Spanish Onion	Over 145 seeds
Golden Bantam Sweet Corn	Over 250 seeds
Hales Best Cantaloupe	Over 70 seeds
Snowball Cauliflower	Over 285 seeds
Black Beauty Zucchini	Over 50 seeds
Crimson Sweet Watermelon	Over 60 seeds

If you buy this deal, let me know and I will edit this post to contain YOUR personal link to this deal. If 3 people buy under you it's free!

Like always-- read all the details of the deal before purchasing.

Thanks to The Frugal Find

An easy explanation of GMO's Genetically Modified Organism by Nature's Path

Nature's Path has a really simple explanation for GMO's and what we can do to avoid them.

Of importance are the labels USDA Certified Organic. If it has actually been certified by the USDA you can rest assured they did not use GMO's.

The other label is NON-GMO Project Certified. They have not been tested by the USDA, but privately. They are a very respectable organization though and you can feel confident these items are also non-GMO.

Please take a moment to read the article. They did a really nice job.

 Nature's Path explains GMO's

Costco: Emergency Garden Seeds

We are currently working on our Emergency Preparedness and I came across this offer today from Costco. I have wondered about storing seeds long term with our regular food storage. These seeds will last up to 5 years! Plus they are non-hybrid and non-GMO, score!

Some of the seeds included are:

Peas

Corn

Beets

Radish

Spinach

Swiss Chard

Carrot

Broccoli

Cucumber

Tomato

Zucchini

And more!

This offer is valid until March 18, 2012. The price is $42.99 shipped. I am not sure if they are carrying this in the store or only online. It's free shipping so it doesn't much matter. This would be a great addition to your emergency stash or just to use for this year's (and next year's) garden! Click here to check it out!

Organic at Costco

Here are some organic finds from Costco this past week. I am not declaring that these are the best deals you can find out there but they seemed worth it to me!

Organic Sun-Maid raisins $7.49 for 4 pounds

Lundberg organic short grain brown rice (non-GMO, yippee!) $11.99 for 12 pounds!

Late July* organic sea salt multigrain (gluten free) chips $5.79 for 24 oz.bag

Blue Agave organic nectar $9.69 for 2-36 oz. bottles

Garofalo organic whole wheat spaghetti, $9.49 for 8 pounds

Bob's Red Mill organic steel cut oats $4.79 for 4 1/2 pounds (crazy good price in my book!)

In particular I love the rice, pasta and oats because they are perfect for getting started on my short-term food storage!

*I love Late July products but they are hard to find in our area. When I left a comment telling them how much I loved them they sent me a lot of coupons (in a hand-addressed envelope), unfortunately I didn't have anywhere to use them before they expired!