Is It Possible to Avoid GMOs in Your Food?

When I hear that a certain food is genetically modified, it raises a red flag for me. I’m leery of anything that is altered from what nature intended. Especially when it’s something I might put into my body.

Now, I understand not everything in modern life is perfectly natural. Most of us do not solely depend on the food we grow in backyard gardens. 

With most food needing to travel to grocery stores and then sit out while on display, a few preservatives are used to keep that food from going bad before it’s purchased. 

But when fruits and vegetables are grown with GMO seeds, I get concerned. I don’t want to put a bunch of laboratory GMOs in my body if I can avoid it. Even meat is affected because more than 95% of animals used for meat and dairy in the U.S. eat GMO crops.

What are GMOs? 

What’s particularly worrisome to me is how many of the foods we eat on a regular basis are genetically modified. As well as the fact that we can’t see GMOs, so we’re dependent on food sellers to properly label them.

Before I get into some ways to avoid GMO foods, let’s take a quick look at what GMOs are, why they are used, and whether they’re safe. 

A GMO (genetically modified organism) is a plant, animal, microorganism, or other organism with a genetic makeup that has been altered in a lab using genetic engineering. 

The result is a combination of plant, animal, bacterial, and virus genes that do not occur in nature or through traditional crossbreeding methods.  

Driven by the almighty dollar

As to why they are used, well, it’s all about economics. Generally speaking, GMOs control weeds and lessen crop loss, which saves farmers money. 

For instance, GMO fruits & veggies require less fertilizer, pesticides, and water to grow, assuming they have been genetically altered to fight off drought and disease. Some GMOs merely make crops look better, which can lead to more sales.

There is great debate regarding whether GMOs are safe for consumption. Most scientists say they are…

But many consumers are not so convinced. Concerningly though, most trust the government and rarely question what they purchase and eat. 

Foods likely to contain GMOs

Here’s a list of foods that are most likely to have been genetically engineered well before we see them on store shelves.

  • Corn and corn-based products like corn oil, corn starch, and high-fructose corn syrup.
  • Dairy products. Cows actually produce genetically modified milk. How is that possible? Because they are given genetically modified growth hormones rBGH or rBST to increase their milk production. 
  • Soybeans and soy products. Soy is genetically modified even more than corn is. This includes soy protein, soy flour, and soy lecithin. Soy is frequently used as an additive in various foods.
  • Apples and potatoes. GMOs keep these foods from bruising as easily, and unfortunately, appearance is everything to some consumers.
  • Aspartame. Made from GMOs, this artificial sweetener can be found in a variety of products, including sugar-free gum and diet sodas. If you use Equal and NutraSweet, you’re putting GMOs into your body. 
  • Canola oil – also called rapeseed oil – is made from genetically modified crops. The exception is canola oil made in the European Union. 
  • Sugar beets. It’s reported that about 95% of sugar beets are genetically modified.
  • Papaya. A while back, a virus wiped out nearly all of Hawaii’s papaya crop. Since then, nearly all of them are grown with GMOs.

How to avoid GMOs 

As we’ve seen, it’s a challenge to avoid GMOs in your food. But there are ways to limit your consumption of them. 

One way is to make sure your food is locally grown. Small local farms are more likely to have GMO-free products than the big industrial farms. When in doubt, ask farmers how their food is grown. 

Another way is to purchase foods that are labeled as “100% organic.” Please note the “100%” designation. It’s perfectly legal to label food as “organic” if it’s 30% or less genetically modified.

A third strategy is finding products that have “Non-GMO Project Verified” on package labeling. This wording can only be earned through independent testing. And it means that throughout the entire process – growing, harvesting, processing, storing, and packaging, GMOs have been avoided.

Regarding produce, another way to determine if it contains GMOs is to examine the sticker number on the label. If it’s a 4-digit number, it was conventionally grown. If it’s a 5-digit number beginning with 9, the produce is organic. If it’s a 5-digit number starting with an 8, it is genetically modified. 

We may not be able to avoid all GMOs in our food, but we can certainly limit our intake of them if we work at it.

Comments

  • Carolyn - August 02, 2023

    Thank you so very much for all your information. No one needs to eat like “they” want us to. If only everyone (wouldn’t that be something?!!) would/could get on the same page.

  • Glenis Richards - July 28, 2023

    Thank you for this information. I always try to buy organic foods, and this really helps. I’ve often wondered if all the food that is in my emergency storage purchased from 4Patriots is Organic and Non GMO. I do feel safe that in an emergency we wont go hungry, and will probably be feeding our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, and that we will be eating good nourishing food.

    Thank you 4Patriots, for your amazing company, and how easy you have made it for us to purchase and store our emergency survival food, and now I will be able to check the food I buy in the grocery store with this information.

  • Regina Sacca - July 28, 2023

    Thanks, every piece of information is helpful and appreciated

  • Betty Adkins - July 28, 2023

    Thanks Frank! The part about the numbers on produce was especially helpful. I knew the one about organic but didn’t know the GMO number and wondered how to tell. I was relieved to see the list of foods at the beginning are foods I’ve been avoiding for years. Aspartame is actually a neurotoxin, very bad for the brain.
    Keep up the good work! God bless you.

  • Gloria Hobbs - July 28, 2023

    Thank you for the information, it’s very helpful, I didn’t know now I’m glad I do now.

  • Halina Santillo - July 28, 2023

    Hi Frank,
    I really appreciated this blog you wrote. We are on the same page. I avoid all the bad foods to the best of my ability. The worrisome part is that Bill Gates is now injecting animals we eat with covid vaccines or putting it in their feed. People are now rejecting vaccines since they’ve discovered that they are not safe or effective but dangerous.
    Now they are dipping all store bought produce, even organics, in a substance that can’t be washed off, supposedly to preserve freshness. This is truly a frightening world we are trying to survive in. This is why I’m hesitant to buy the beef and chicken. I don’t know if they are from factory farms or not.

Leave a comment

*Required Fields