These days it seems we know less and less about what’s in our food. As big food and lawmakers have their way, ingredients sneakily make their way into our food. It’s up to us, the consumer, to research what we eat and take a closer look at the labels. We’ve already identified the many places MSG is hiding in your food, but hidden GMO ingredients have an even stronger prevalence in what we eat.
What are GMOs?
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) refers to foods that have been modified to withstand heavy doses of pesticides, mainly glyphosate, or are engineered to contain a toxin that kills bugs when they feed on the crop. Currently, up to 93% of US corn crops were genetically modified and a staggering 96% of US soybeans grown were GMO, and those aren’t the only genetically modified foods. With these biotech foods making their way into the majority of our food, it’s important to consider their safety.
Why are GMOs Dangerous?
Despite GMOs being in around 70% of the nation’s food, no testing has been done by the FDA to ensure their safety. However, independent testing has shown glyphosate to cause rapid tumor growth in lab rats. Glyphosate, which is the most common pesticide sprayed on GM crops and an additional 200 crops, has been linked to birth defects and intestinal discomfort, among other things. Glyphosate is now deemed to probably cause cancer by the World Health Organization (WHO) after review.
What to Look For on the Label:
The most common GMO crops are soy, cotton, canola, corn, sugar beets, Hawaiian papaya, alfalfa, and zucchini and yellow squash. In addition to those crops, these 100 ingredients, usually indicate the presence of hidden GMOs unless the product is certified organic or Non-GMO project verified.
- corn flour
- corn masa
- corn meal
- corn oil
- corn sugar
- corn syrup
- cornstarch
- starch
- food starch
- modified food starch
- modified starch
- hydrogenated starch
- milo starch
- high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)
- dextrin
- cyclodextrin
- maltodextrin
- dextrose
- malt
- malt syrup
- malt extract
- hydrolyzed vegetable protein
- baking powder
- caramel color
- sugar (unless specified as cane sugar)
- E951
- Nutrasweet
- Aspartame
- minoSweet
- Canderel
- BeneVia
- Phenylalanine
- Equal
- confectioners sugar
- invert sugar
- inverse syrup
- fructose (any form)
- glucose
- condensed milk
- milk powder
- glycerides
- glycerin
- glycerol
- glycerol monooleate
- diglyceride
- mono and diglycerides
- triglyceride
- teriyaki marinades
- tofu
- tamari
- tempeh
- textured vegetable protein
- soy flour
- soy isolates
- soy milk
- soy oil
- soy sauce
- soy protein
- soy protein concentrate
- soy protein isolate
- protein isolate
- soy lecithin
- lecithin
- whey
- whey powder
- xanthan gum
- canola oil (rapeseed oil)
- cottonseed oil
- vegetable oil
- vegetable fat
- shoyu
- monosodium glutamate (MSG)
- glutamate
- glutamic acid
- citric acid
- lactic acid
- phytic acid
- oleic acid
- stearic acid
- erythritol
- inositol
- mannitol
- sorbitol
- cellulose
- hemicellulose
- methylcellulose
- trehalose
- colorose
- malitolmaltose
- cobalamin (Vitamin B12)
- vitamin B12
- vitamin E
- diacetyl
- isoflavones
- tocopherols (vitamin E)
- threonine
- glycine
- leucine
- lysine
- cystein
List from the Non-Gmo Shopping Guide.
How to Avoid GMOs
With so many potential places for hidden GMO ingredients, the easiest way to keep them off your plate is to look for the Non-GMO project verified label or the USDA Organic seal. Opting for organic has many benefits in addition to helping you and your family avoid GMOs, such as avoiding synthetic pesticides that can still be sprayed on even non GMO crops.
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I’m assuming that not all of these listed are definitely all 100% GMO. Just the higher possibility. I work with It Works. They use Soy Isolate of NON GMO soy. None of their stuff is labeled organic but is grown organically with no pesticides, mostly in the mountains of Mexico away from other farms to reduce the chance of any pesticide sneaking over or gmo seed. So, there are some companies that have gone the extra mile. However, not everyone has that calls themselves organic. And not everything with the name FARM on it is wholesome. Especially the big chains. Money talks. Toms of Maine, sold out to Colgate. However, Tom made sure that it was in the contract to be made the same and same ingredients. Not everyone will go that extra mile when money is waving around in their face.
Oh, also not every thing you see on Facebook is true. Investigate for yourself.
Awesome information, and so easy to save the photo list. Thanks so much for your work!!
Can you explain how GMOs are in these ingredients? I understand the ones made from GMO crops but how is it in powdered milk, baking powder or vitamins?
Why didn’t egg make the list?
maybe I just missed it. let me recheck before I post this.
nope, didn’t see egg. why?
they feed chickens GMO feed like they do the cows.
add egg and make it the 101 list.
GMO 101
I fear there are problems with GMO products and have decided I don’t want my family to be the experiment to see if they are safe so I, for one, am going non-GMO at our house. I garden, raise chickens on organic food I grow and buy and feed my family grass fed beef. Each person has to decide for him/herself what to eat and feed the family and most of the time we will not convince the other side of this issue of the dangers or not of GMO. It is a wait and see, but I believe the GMO studies that point to problems in the future.
Label GMO’s Why is this such a horrific request. Goodbye GMO’s. I cannot wait for you to become a thing of the past. Even then the after affects will take forever to clear. Goodbye GMO’s!!!!!
baking soda??
How in the world is a triglyceride a gmo??? Also glycine etc. these are just molecules. I believe that a try glycerine is three fats bonded to one another. That doesn’t make sense. It’s been awhile since I took biochemistry but some of these on the list are just Your basic amino acids
I recently learned that Vitamin C (or ascorbic acid )may be corn derived when calling a company for the Vitamin C source on the label.
Just wondering what your sources or references are for the “100 Hidden GMO Ingredients” graphic? Do you have this information available? Thanks!
It’s right there on the post with a link
How certain are you on the conclusion that 100 items listed above has connection with Glyphosate? Can you cite the source?
Most of those ingredients contain conventional corn, soy, sugar beets, cotton, etc. Those are the most popular GM crops.
The vitamin company I’ve bought from since 1989 has quit making Vitamin E available. I was told they couldn’t get the ingredients. Now I know why….non-GMO is hard to find.
seeing this list confirming that 90% of corn and soy is gentically modified and Wildtree Organics claim to be non-GMO but use soy sauce and maltodextrin in their chicken bouillan base and use (conventinal) milk for their Kids Cheez seasoning has me questioning this company. I’ve tried to reach out to them for answers and after spending 40 minutes on the phone and redirected 4 times and then told its proprietary information has me questioning their products. Have you or anyone looked at their products?
They could be sourcing things from Europe or China. If they are hiding that info, I would bet it’s more likely China. Ironically sometimes China has BETTER ingredients than the US. Yes, I know how odd that sounds.
If they are 100% organic, they can’t have GMOs. I don’t know anything about that company to say what other ingredients they are using.
Nothing is 100% organic, unless you grow it yourself. The organic whole milk contains Vitamin D3 that comes from the wool of sheep in Australia and the wool is sent to China for processing (with God knows what) and then sent to the US to go into ALL foods that contain Vit D. You should pick up the book Pandora’s Lunchbox by Melanie Warner and read the chapter about our vitamins that are re-added into our food after they strip out all of the good through processing. It’s pretty disgusting. The gov’t allows synthetic vitamins to be added to organic foods, so if it has vitamins on the label they are synthetic and GMO!
If they don’t respond, you have your answer! I got the same run around from the Daisy sour cream makers in 2010. They source from cows that are fed GM soy and corn so they became another product I stopped buying years ago. All the synthetic vitamins that are in all foods even organic come from GM sources.You really just need to avoid anything processed because you can’t trust them to care about our health it’s all about sales and profits!
Sheesh! Thanks for this info! It’s getting to the point where unless you grow it yourself you can’t really trust it.