Every consumer knows the deep-seated stress that accompanies decoding food labels.
Not only are we meant to be concerned about calories, fat content, sugar and sodium, but now there’s a rash of other buzzwords making their way onto labels. Colourful stickers make grand proclamations like ‘Gluten Free!’ ‘Organic!’ and ‘Non-GMO!’.
The latter has been getting an exceptional amount of attention lately, with some of the biggest names in food certifying products as non-GMO. Both Post and General Mills have certified some huge products—Shreddies and Cheerios respectively—as non-GMO to appease activists and maintain a hold on their principal demographic—mothers with young children.
GMOs: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
GMOs or genetically modified organisms refer to any food made from genetically modified plants (basically, plants whose DNA has been altered to create a ‘superior’ product). This increases pest and disease resistance among the modified crops, and can even increase drought tolerance which ultimately increases food supply.
However, concerns over “frankenfoods” and the negative effects of GMOs are being raised by increasingly educated consumers. Modified crops have been linked to increased toxins and allergens, thanks to genetic cross contamination. Additionally, it has resulted in antibiotic resistance, nutritional depletion and the creation of super weeds in modified crops.
So it’s hardly a surprise that the Global Non-GMO Foods Market in growing pretty steadily, projecting a CAGR of 15.92 percent from 2013-2018, as consumers wise up to some of the risks of modified food.
High Consumer Demand is Good News for Non-GMO Market
“At this point in time, consumers are very much concerned about GMOs in food products, and this concern is driving up demand for non-GMO food products,” says Faisal Ghaus, Vice President of TechNavio.
This huge demand from the consumer segment is prompting major food manufacturers to start selling labelled, non-GMO products.
In addition to Post and General Mills, supermarket giant Whole Foods is also selling non-GMO foods. In 2013, the company announced that all its stores in the US and Canada will label GMO products over the next five years.
Target Brands also announced that it will stop the use of GMO ingredients in 2014. Not to be outdone, in 2013 Chipotle Mexican Grill announced an initiative to use all non-GMO ingredients in its 1,550 restaurant chains.
Global Food and Beverage Market Breakdown
GMOs Far From Gone
However, though the global food industry would appear to be making strides to distance itself from frankenfood, most large food producers are far from shunning genetically modified organisms.
A recent article in the Vancouver sun points out that Post and General Mills’ apparent commitment to the health of their consumers is really just thinly-veiled pandering.
“Post and General Mills are simply picking the low-hanging fruit so far. Shreddies are mostly made with wheat, which is already non-GMO because there is no commercially grown GMO wheat. Cheerios are mostly oats, again, there are no commercially grown GMO oats. Ditto for the barley in Grape-Nuts,” states the article by natural food guru, Randy Shore.
Research from TechNavio supports this perspective. In a recently published report, TechNavio analysts point out that several international food companies are actually hindering sales in the global non-GMO market in order to retain market share and consumer base.
Companies including, but not limited to, PepsiCo, Monsanto, Kraft Foods and (you guessed it) General Mills have invested millions of dollars either directly or through trade organizations such as the Grocery Manufacturers Association in order to defeat GMO labeling campaigns.
This single-minded focus on the bottom line by industry bigwigs is, to put it simply, really bad for the overall market. In fact the threat from global food companies poses the biggest challenge to growth in the Global Non-GMO Foods Market.
But Wait! There’s a Small Bright Side
There are initiatives like the Non-GMO Project, which are seeking to even the playing field a bit. The Non-GMO Project is a non-profit organization based in US, which is thus far the only organization to offer third party verification and labeling of non-GMO foods and produce. It has become the fastest growing producer of labels in the natural food segment and has verified more than 14,000 products including meat and liquid egg products.
While this represents a pretty strong initiative towards GMO labeling, the current food and beverage industry landscape looks to be a David and Goliath situation, with non-profits attempting to take on massive international food corporations.
Even so, the Global Non-GMO Food Market will still continue to grow over the projected period thanks to more consumer demand, increased R&D, and growing adoption of non-GMO seeds by farmers.
To keep an eye on this market, and for more information on the Global Food and Beverages Market, visit www.TechNavio.com!
