GMOs in Larabar, Kashi & Silk?

A good friend of mine—who loves food, especially the healthy variety—attended a nutrition seminar recently. She was told that 3 of my favorites brands (Larabar, Kashi & Silk) oppose the labeling of GMOs in California (aka: Proposition 37).

Since I care about GMOs (and would rather not see them in my food), and those 3 brands comprise a large chunk of my diet… I decided to do some research. Here’s what I found.

  • All Larabar’s have always been Non-GMO
  • All Silk products are Non-GMO
  • 11 of Kashi’s cereals have been verified Non-GMO, but not all of their products are

The Non-GMO Project has a list of brands here that they have verified to have no GMOs. They are not the end-all-be-all of GMO regulation, but they appear to be the largest, most organized group with pretty strict guidelines (in the US).

In terms of Proposition 37, here’s a list of who’s donated money supporting/opposing the California Prop 37 for mandatory labeling of GMOs.

Silk & Larabar each have their own sections on their websites dedicated to Non-GMO ingredients.

Larabar is owned by Small Planet Foods, which is a branch of General Mills (GM), and GM has donated money opposing GMO labeling (12th most of all companies, in terms of total dollars). But all Larabar products are still Non-GMO.

General Mills has a great explanation on their website about GMOs. While I don’t agree with all of it, I do like how they talk about it. And their responsibility page makes me feel pretty good about them as a company. But you should read those pages & make your own judgements.

Silk used to be owned by Dean Foods (who donated money opposing Prop 37), but they are NOT owned by Dean Foods any longer. They are owned by White Wave Foods, who has not donated any money either supporting or opposing labeling. But they definitely support labeling (according to their website), and all their Silk products are Non-GMO.

White Wave Foods used to be a subsidiary of Dean Foods, but in 2012, White Wave Foods went public, and is now operated independently from Dean Foods.

Kashi does appear to be owned by Kellogg Company, however, they do not list Kashi in their brand portfolio on their website. And I could not find any info on GMOs on Kellogg’s website.

“Organic” vs. “Natural”

As a general note, any product that uses the word “Organic” on its packaging, it has to be Non-GMO. However, products can be “Natural” and still contain GMOs. That’s regulated by the FDA. Here’s a good starting point on the FDA’s website that addresses the regulation of “organic” vs. “natural”.

 

If you have any further information to add to this, please include it in the comments below. There are probably a lot more resources out there that I don’t know about, but I’d love to see them.