GMO Facts
Produced with the best quality New Zealand dairy ingredients to meet New Zealand’s strict Non-GMO criteria
What is a GMO?
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are living organisms whose genetic material has been artificially manipulated in a laboratory through genetic engineering.
The genetic modification creates combinations of plant, animal, bacteria, and virus genes that neither occur in nature nor achievable through traditional crossbreeding methods.
Most GMOs have been engineered to withstand direct application of herbicide and/or to produce an insecticide.
However, new technologies are now being used to artificially develop some other traits in plants, such as a resistant feature to avert browning in apples, and to create new organisms using synthetic biology.
Despite biotech industry promises, there is no evidence that any of the GMOs currently on the market offer increased yield, drought tolerance, enhanced nutrition, or any other healthy consumer benefit.
Are GMOs safe?
In the absence of credible independent long-term feeding studies, the safety of GMOs is unknown. Increasingly, consumers are showing reluctance to GMOs and choosing to opt-out of the GMO experiment.
Are GMOs labelled?
Sixty-four countries around the world, including Australia, Japan, and all the European countries, require genetically modified foods to be labelled. Canada does not call for any GMO labelling.
GMOs are not currently labelled in the United States. However, the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (NBFDS) was published in the Federal Register on December 21, 2018. This law, popular as the DARK Act, is the start of mandatory GMO labelling in the United States.
It means that some—but not all—products containing GMOs will have to be labelled by 2022. In its current form, categorical exemptions often prevent this law from delivering meaningful protections US consumers may deserve.
What are the impacts of GMOs on the environment?
More than 80% of all genetically modified crops grown worldwide have been engineered for herbicide tolerance. As a result, the use of toxic herbicides, such as Roundup®, has increased fifteen-fold since GMOs were first introduced.
In March 2015, the World Health Organization determined that the herbicide glyphosate (the key ingredient in Roundup®) is “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
Genetically modified crops also are responsible for the emergence of “superweeds” and “superbugs,” which can only be killed with ever more toxic poisons such as 2, 4-D (a major ingredient in Agent Orange).
Most GMOs are a direct extension of chemical agriculture and are developed and sold by the world’s largest chemical companies. The long-term impacts of these GMOs are unknown. Once released into the environment, these novel organisms cannot be recalled.
Milk is neither genetically engineered, nor are the dairy cows. Most conventional milk comes from cows given supplemental feed from genetically engineered corn and soy.
“Non-GMO milk” is shorthand for milk from cows that do not consume such feed — which is also true of organic milk.
What is non-GMO in the dairy context?
The non-GMO Project standard requires the use of tested non-GMO feed, and cows must consume non-GMO feed for at least 30 days for milk to be verified. The feed must meet a GMO threshold of less than 5%.
The Non-GMO Project Verified seal is the fastest growing label in the natural product industry..
NZMP’s Non-GMO Project Verified range is independently verified by Where Food Comes From, Inc., an independent, 3rd-party food verification-company.
Non-GMO Project requirements for New Zealand:
- The standard requires compliance with ingredients, additives, and inputs that they do not contain, are not derived from, and are not produced with the help of GMOs.
- The Non-GMO Project has required limits on feed, which may come from genetically modified sources (less than 5%).
- To ensure that the cows receive adequate nutrition throughout the year, non-New Zealand supplementary feed, which may be classified as GM risk, is sometimes used. This usage is strictly monitored to ensure that it meets Non-GMO Project Standard and the range is sourced exclusively from the selected New Zealand farms to confirm that verification can be applied to a specific product line.
- These supplementary feeds make up less than 2% of the total ration that our cows in New Zealand consume on an average.
Milkio’s Non-GMO claim
Milkio ghee is manufactured with the best quality New Zealand dairy ingredients that meet New Zealand’s stringent Non-GMO standards to give our customers truly natural and rich taste of dairy as well as keeping them completely safe from the hazard of genetically modified food-contents..
