Join us on calling on Chobani – the most popular US yogurt brand – to shift to non-GMO feed for their cows! (Take action here!)
Chobani Greek Yogurt is one of the common foods with GMOs that surprise people, often because it is touted as a "natural" and healthy source of protein. But if you thought that one way to cut GMOs from your diet was to avoid foods with high-risk GMO ingredients, think again.
Meat and dairy products, while not genetically modified themselves (yet[1]), are not immune to the insidious impacts of GMOs. In fact, your favorite yogurt brand may be made with “Monsanto Milk” – milk from cows that are fed GMO silage.
Cows living on industrial farms eat GMO feed two to three times a day, every day. This silage may consist of GMO corn, soy, alfalfa, cotton seed, and/or sugar beets, plus synthetic vitamins that are often times also derived from GMO crops. In fact, 98% of GM soy and 49% of GM corn goes to feeding livestock and poultry.
Animals, like humans, are deeply impacted by the quality of their diets. A recent study showed that pigs fed an entirely GMO diet suffered from severe stomach inflammation when compared to pigs given non-GMO feed.0[2] Additionally, while industry has claimed that genetically modified particles are broken down in the digestive tracts of the animals that eat them, these GM particles have shown up in the organs and milk of animals fed GMOs, the same milk and meat that humans then eat.[3]
Greek yogurt, popular today for its high protein content, is likely made with milk from cows fed GMOs, unless otherwise specified. It’s impossible for consumers to know which meat and dairy products are derived from GMO-fed livestock, unless the product has gone through the Non-GMO Project’s certification for non-GMO feed, recently approved by the USDA as a credible label.[4] Even more than regular yogurt, Greek yogurt relies on a lot of “Monsanto Milk” since it is strained more than regular yogurt (It takes roughly 4 ounces of milk to make 1 ounce of Greek Yogurt). And Greek yogurt is gaining in popularity every day!
Chobani, the US’s number one Greek yogurt brand, which markets itself as being “real” and “natural”, in fact most likely uses milk gathered from cows who are fed GMOs. Chobani prides itself in adding no GMO ingredients to its yogurt, but its main ingredient, milk, is coming from cows that are eating GMOs. Chobani also said on facebook that it is carefully monitoring its customers' concerns when it comes to GMOs, so it’s time to speak up!
We hope you will join us in calling on Chobani Greek Yogurt to shift to non-GMO feed for their cows, to help accelerate the shift to a non GMO food system! Take action now!
And in the meantime, we hope you will choose organic and non-GMO verified Greek yogurt choices for your family, such as Stonyfield Farm or Straus Family Creamery. Please leave a comment and share your own suggestions or recipes for non-GMO yogurt.
[1] At present, the FDA has approved 8 genetically modified crops to be grown and sold in the US. (And even without approval, GMO wheat has turned up in Oregon). To date, no animals have been approved to be genetically modified, but salmon has been proposed. While livestock and poultry are not themselves genetically modified, they are often fed GMO feed.
