They were. So, a Laura Scudders brand, which my wife is aware is actually Smuckers, our usual buy, was bought. This evening I looked closely at the jar, as it had not been "put up", the cabinets are stuffed full. I saw labeled "Non-GMO"* By * "Non-GMO: "ingredients, may contain trace amounts of GMO ingredients". So, crap. We cannot buy product with ZERO GMOs?? Which leads to how much is "trace"?
I agree with your ranting on that GMO thing. Pardon me if ranting is not the correct word. But anyway, I also find so many products now (mostly imported products) with that GMO in the label, mostly a disclaimer that the product has no GMO -tainted ingredients. Now this looks like a battle between GMO and organic. Let us wait and see which one will win the battle of labels. I would go for organic because I'm sure that the products here with the label organic are not really organic at all. So that GMO-free label may not be true either.
A friend posted the label of her soda on Facebook recently, and it stated it contained or might contain ( I don't recall which) trace amounts of genetically modified ingredients. It sounded like something out of a science fiction novel. From what I've heard, with so many farmers using GMO seeds and insecticides over the years, traces of them could be all over the U.S., having been blown around by the wind and carried by run off. Here's an article about 'natural' sodas that might still contain GMO ingredients. I understand I'm probably going to ingest at least some GMO items, but I do try to limit it as much as possible.
I think that many people have an awareness of GMO's and is just one of the things to avoid. It is one of the options that you can get that you need that you are looking for. It is just one of the things that you that can get in products. GMO's are somehting to be avoided but I am not sure it is always worth it to buy organic. I think you have find the choices that are right for you and that you can afford. There are lists of things you can buy that are organic. This is one of the choices that you might want to go for as an alternative.
This is not to smear the products here, @Frank Sanoica, but it seems to me that the government agency here is lax with those labeling. As I had posted before in another thread, some unscrupulous vendors would tag their products organic but they don't even know where they came from. A bit later I am going to the Sunday Market for the fresh fruits and vegetables. Expect the stalls that have a cardboard sign of organic products to have their prices a bit higher. Take for example the string beans that sells for 160 pesos per kilo, the stall with the organic signage sells it for 200 pesos per kilo. But for all we know, they may have been harvested from the same farm.
At least when you buy fresh food from a farmer's market, you can be pretty sure that it was raised locally, and not shipped in frozen or otherwise from some foreign country, like the jar of peanut butter that Frank was telling us about. I got a small bottle of apple juice to put in with my water kefir to culture, and although the label said it was only reconstituted apple juice concentrate and water, then it went on to name about 5-6 countries where the apples or concentrate might have come from, including South America, China, and Germany, which are all in very different parts of the world. The good news is that many of the foreign countries do not allow genetically modified seeds to be planted and grown, so food products from those countries should be GMO free. Our Congress seems to be in a good relationship with Monsanto, and lets them sell GMO seeds to our farmers.
I read an article before about local farm stands and flea markets here in the U.S., and it said pretty much what @Corie Henson is saying about where she lives in the Philippines. I think there are a lot of unscrupulous people who try to take advantage of the desire for healthy foods, and sometimes claim products to be organic when they're not, so they can charge more. It's the same to me as those who claim products are handmade, when they may be, but sometimes what they're claiming as handmade is made by those in sweat shops, and I'd rather not support those industries, the same as I would prefer to not buy questionable produce at some markets.
It is a coincidence that my first encounter with the organic thing was when there was a mini trade fair held right in the front area of our office building, inside the company compound. There were lots of vegetables and fruits but I noticed the price tag was much higher. The vendor said that their products are organic and were grown in special farms - this spiel I still remember because I had the impression that the vendor was either trying to fool me or she is ignorant herself on what an organic is. What I was able to buy was a kilo of sweet potato, that's the only item that I think it worth the price tag. Ever since that time, I have been wary of farm products with the organic label.
Does "organic" automatically mean GMO-free, or are GMO organics permitted? Forgive my ignorance, please. Frank