When we started our non-dairy yogurt company we wanted to have close to zero water waste in our production, all organic non-GMO ingredients, totally compostable packaging and high enough wages for our partners and staff that they could afford to eat organic foods themselves.  Sound a little idyllic?  Yes well I’ve always been more interested in saving the world than in actually making yogurt it’s no secret…

The water filtration and recycling were easy enough considering that at first the officials were totally against it.  We use a double jacketed stainless steel tank to heat and cool the yogurt enabling us to maintain the perfect incubation temperature.  The water in the jacket of that machine is now recycled so that we don’t have to just leave the tap on and dump the water down the drain which unfortunately is standard operating procedure in food production.  This was apparent in the fact that the inspectors had never seen a water recycling system like this.  While we were frustrated it was easy enough to prove to them that the system was safe and we were able to have a small victory there.  Victory #1.  Yay!

Organic and non-GMO ingredients have always been a priority for me as long as I can remember.  I have been interested in organics since I was a child and have watched them become more and more popular.  I feel like we are almost at some kind of critical mass where we can really make change by choosing to purchase organic produce.. but I digress.  It was easy to find organic, gluten free, peanut free, soy-free and GMO-free suppliers for all of our ingredients.  The world is changing and there are options.  Victory #2.

As for the wages for the staff (ahem ourselves) we are still working on that.  We are on the verge of a breakthrough.  Hopefully when we are ready to hire someone we will be able to hold to this standard because it is so important to us that people who are working to create beautiful healthy products end up with an appropriate living wage so that they can actually afford the quality of life promoted by the company that they work for.

We began a search for compostable packaging.  I became excited by all of the innovations in packaging design.  There were bottles made out of recycled cardboard and take-out containers made out of pressed bamboo.  Many containers were compostable and this excited me.  Options for compostable packaging used to be quite limited without much excitement or great design but suddenly there were beautiful shapes and colours and more and more options all the time.  I became excited.  Most of the new options were not useable for a refrigerated wet food like yogurt but there were compostable clear plastic containers which looked quite nice.  We sourced special machinery that would not overheat the packaging because the compostable material is more heat sensitive than regular plastics.  We planned out how we would produce and package the yogurt with those packages for optimal health and efficiency.

One day I sat down to think about compostable packaging and what it was made out of.  Corn.  What do we know about corn?  We know that unless it is certified organic or certified non-GMO then it almost definitely IS GMO (backyards and other random exceptions noted).  I knew that it was imperative to the packaging industry to produce their products as cheaply as possible.  This was when I realized that I was holding a product of GMO corn.  Oh no!!!  A few phone calls followed by a paranoid google search revealed that I was right.  In Europe it is possible to purchase non-GMO compostable packaging but compostable packaging in North America is most likely made from GMO corn.  In my opinion it is totally all made of GMO corn who are we kidding here?  I am not sure about other continents or countries so if non-GMO compostable packaging for liquids like a yogurt exists in your country I want to know about it.

So who cares?  We’re not eating it anyway.  It’s just the packaging.  I did consider this perspective but it didn’t seem right to me.  I don’t usually think in black/white right/wrong BUT if I were to choose one issue that I feel strongly enough about to make blanket generalizations about it would be GMO foods and other GMO crops.  I do not think we should be producing genetically engineered crops to feed to other animals, to ourselves or to package our foods in.  Why?  Because of food security for the next generation and for people in developing nations where the subsistence crops are being replaced by genetically engineered mono-crops and poverty and malnourishment ensue.  For me the human rights issues and the rights to food are more important than my personal health.  What are your reasons?

So I held up two containers, one in either hand, one supporting Big Oil and one supporting GMO corn.  Not a good choice.  I sat holding those containers for a year (figuratively… I did a few other things that year).  I eventually decided I would rather support Big Oil than Big Bad Food.  What would you have decided?

Because this topic is so very close to my heart I would love to hear your comments in the comments box below.  Thank you!  For more information about GMO foods in particular check out the Bought movie here