{"id":8937,"date":"2021-10-13T17:45:49","date_gmt":"2021-10-13T17:45:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenchoicenow.com\/v\/?p=8937"},"modified":"2021-10-29T14:37:10","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T14:37:10","slug":"non-gmo-vs-organic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenchoicenow.com\/v\/non-gmo-vs-organic","title":{"rendered":"Non-GMO vs. Organic: What’s the Difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Trying to treat both your health and the planet right is a difficult task, especially when deciding what to eat. With labels like \u201cnon-GMO\u201d and \u201corganic\u201d littering the grocery store on a wide range of products, from onions to pre-packaged cookies, it can be confusing to decipher the difference between the two and what these labels mean.

We\u2019ve curated a careful breakdown of the differences between non-GMO and organic food products to help you navigate all the supermarket confusion and make conscious choices about exactly what you\u2019re eating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What is a non-GMO?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A \u201cgenetically modified organism\u201d or GMO is any plant, animal, microorganism, or organism whose genetic makeup has been modified in a lab using genetic engineering. <\/strong>

GMO\u2019s do not occur in nature, and this causes many consumers to be suspicious towards their effects on their health (1<\/a>). 

GMO food products are most often created to be resistant to pests via herbicides and pesticides that help farmers prevent crop loss (2<\/a>). 

Non-GMO products exclude GMO ingredients but only<\/em> GMO ingredients,<\/strong> meaning that while the product doesn\u2019t include GMO ingredients, it\u2019s still grown using conventional food production methods (3<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What is organic?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOrganic\u201d is a term that describes how agricultural products are produced, processed, and grown. Typically in the U.S, to be organic, a food product must be certified USDA Organic <\/a>and meet a strict set of requirements to achieve organic status. 

Organic products are also inherently non-GMO \u2014 in fact, no organic foods are grown or handled using genetically modified organisms, and GMOs go directly against the USDA\u2019s organic standards (4<\/a>). <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Key differences between non-GMO and organic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While there are some plus sides to choosing non-GMO products, non-GMO products don\u2019t have nearly as many standards as organic products and can still end up containing harmful ingredients like artificial colors, antibiotics, pesticides, and more (5<\/a>). 

Despite many fears and consumer apprehension towards GMO food products though, there is no conclusive science that GMOs are more harmful to human health than traditionally grown food sources <\/em>(6<\/a>). 

That being said, non-GMO food products don\u2019t do nearly as much good for the environment as organic products, which must verify its organic procedures during growing processes, harvesting, and all the way through production. 

To summarize, the key differences between non-GMO and organic are: <\/p>\n\n\n\n