Nowadays, consumers are looking for healthy food all around the world. Authorities and Institutions are more and more concerned about this problem and as well as companies.
In the USA, to answer the market needs, a lot of labels were created. For example, the most well-known: USDA Organic and Non-GMO project.
Why should you have one of these labels for your North American market?
About half of U.S. public says GM foods are worst for one's health.
In the past year, about 1/3 of shoppers have increased their non-GMO purchasing
In 2017, US Organic Sales exceeded $49B USD.
The overall growth rate of 6.4% exceeded the growth of the overall food market which grew by 1.1%.
Organic Foods now accounts for 5.5% of total food sales in the US.
How to choose between these different labels?
1. USDA Organic
The mission of the National Organic Program is to protect the integrity of organic products in the U.S. and around the world.
Farming practices maintain or improve:
• Water quality
• Biodiversity
• Soil health and carbon sequestration
• Animal Welfare
• Food Quality
Organic products are produced without synthetic fertilizers, conventional pesticides, sewage sludge, irradiation, genetic engineering (GMO’s), and artificial additives.
People want to know how their food is grown and may be willing pay a higher premium for it.
Organic is the most heavily regulated and closely monitored food system in the US because this requires an annual physical inspection. It also identifies physical barriers to prevent contact of organic crops with prohibited substances or the products of “excluded methods” such as GMOs.
2. The Non-GMO Project
The Non-GMO Project is a mission driven non-profit organization dedicated to building and protecting a non-GMO food supply.
The Non-GMO Project Standard is a consensus based standard owned and managed by the Non-GMO Project which defines the requirements for verifying food and products as Non-GMO.
The goal of the Standard is to assist farmers, processors and manufacturers in avoiding GMO contamination by providing consistency of definitions and methodology for investigating source materials, testing high-risk ingredients, and building identity preservation practices into the supply chain.
The Non-GMO verification is highly recommended to export EU products to the US and this project concerns all type of activities such as : agricultural production (seeds and crops), handling, storage, distribution, processing, manufacturing, packaging and labelling.
Do you know the differences between them and what's the added value of each for your products?
Interested in these labels?
As a partner of FoodChain ID, Quality Partner can provide the Non-GMO verification program in Belgium if your company has the aim to export its food production to North America.
For more information, please feel free to contact us:
By mail: sales@quality-partner.be
Or on our website: https://www.quality-partner.be/en/contact-us/
Sources
Quality Partner
Chart 1: Survey conducted April 23-May 6, 2018, “Public Perspectives on Food Risks», PEW RESEARCH CENTER
Chart2: Credit Non-GMO Project