Nugget Markets: no GMO policy, but ‘Non-GMO’ labeling common

Nugget Non-GMOMy favorite grocery store here in Davis, California is Nugget Market. Our family shops at the various Nugget stores in the area fairly often. We like the food and the friendly service.

I’ve been noticing not just at Nugget, but at some other stores too that the word “GMO” is popping up more. Both the actual product packaging as well as in some cases such as with Nugget the actual store “price tag” label on the shelf is saying, “NON-GMO” much more often lately.

For example, on a recent weekend as I was shopping for the family for the coming week I noticed at Nugget that many products said “NON-GMO”, in some cases even multiple times (see image above).

Wondering about this and having the sense of this labeling by the store being perhaps on the increase, I asked the store  about it and about their policy (if any on GMOs). The question of GMO labeling on foods has been a hot topic of contention here in California. I found the Nugget response quite interesting:

Thank you very much for your longtime patronage and for asking about the labeling of non-GMO products in our stores. Although our company does not have an official stance on GMOs, we’ve implemented the product labeling because of requests from our shoppers. Through our Lifestyle Diets program, we tag our prepackaged products based upon categories like Organic, Local, Gluten Free, Vegetarian, Vegan, Non-GMO, etc. Those items that are flagged with our Non-GMO icons have been verified by the Non-GMO Project as not containing genetically modified organisms. Further, all items designated as Organic by the USDA have been included on this list, since the USDA prohibits GMOs as part of its organic certification. The goal of our Lifestyle Diets program is to offer our guests choices and allow them to make decisions based upon their values.

What do you think of GMO labeling?