Recently, Colorado was one of the first states in the nation to legalize pot for recreational use. Now, one of their biggest companies, Smart Balance, has become the first butter company to announce that they will no longer use GMO in their buttery spreads, the Denver Post reported yesterday.
Non-GMO labeled Smart Balance will begin showing up on retailers' shelves within 30 days, and the entire product-line conversion should be complete within 90 days, Hughes said.
"Two years ago, non-GMO would not be mentioned by consumers," he said. "Today, 40 percent of our consumers want a GMO-free Smart Balance spread."
So even if labeling advocates do not succeed at the ballot box, they are starting to succeed with individual corporations. The move will likely increase Smart Balance's market share, given that there is an increasing level of public concern about GMO's, as evidenced by polls showing that as many as 93% of Americans want labeling.
Smart Balance reports in the Post article that they are also in the process of switching their other products to non-GMO as well. They say that none of the costs will be passed on to the customer.
The company, on the front page of their website, links to a fact sheet detailing their move.
Non-GMO Smart Balance® Buttery Spread is made from oils pressed from non-GMO seeds.
That means our oil comes from a variety of seeds that have been verified not to contain any GMOs.
We developed our verification process by modeling the EU Standard and working with key suppliers and manufacturing partners.
This verification includes certificates and guarantees that are provided and enforced by our suppliers and farmers. They are binding, and we require notification of any potential changes to non-GMO compliance. We also do on-site audits with our key oil suppliers to confirm the non-GMO guarantees.
Finally all our ingredients are traced by lots, so we can ensure that everything is as it should be every step of the way.
Non-GMO seeds are only the first step. We’ve also established new ways to handle ingredients and make our products, adding steps to ensure that non-GMO ingredients do not come into contact with GMO containing ingredients.
The big challenge for Smart Balance will be compliance, given the possibilities of contamination by neighboring operations as well as contamination by pollination, which could affect operations many miles away. This could set up potential court battles down the road between GMO producers and non-GMO producers who are seeking to sell their ingredients to Smart Balance.