“There’s a stigma about genetically modified foods and it’s due in part to the perception that the food industry hasn’t been transparent,” says Silver Hills co-owner Stan Smith. “There’s been a lot of industry resistance to non-GMO labelling. I see large companies spending so much money to try to keep the consumer from being able to know what they’re eating. If there really is no problem with GMOs, there should be no problem with being transparent and open about it. Because truth can always withstand analysis.

I believe it makes people feel manipulated when they’d like to know what’s in their food and are told they don’t have a right to know. Historically, any time transparency is discouraged, there’s usually a reason and it usually means the consumer isn’t being well-served; that industry is being put ahead of the consumer.

Most people think their voice is so small that it doesn’t matter. But it’s been estimated that even if as little as 5-10% of the population would insist on having genetically modified foods labeled, then the industry would have to respond to that.

Each person, every time they make a decision on what they’re purchasing at the supermarket or even at a restaurant, asks if the food is prepared from non GMO ingredients, and even if it isn’t, simply asking and saying, “can you let the manager know that someone who’s in the restaurant today, cared as to whether the food was genetically engineered.

If everyone concerned about their health would ask and demand to know if GMOs were in the food they eat, the industry would respond. Consumer pressure would force them to make foods that were compatible and then, the industry would change. I think that’s the most important way in which we can change our food is just to insist on how things can be done. That would change the direction the industry is going forward.”

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