Dive Brief:
- Earth Fare has taken out genetically modified ingredients from more than 500 private label food products, according to the Shelby Report.
- The grocery chain said it will add hundreds of private label products without GM ingredients over the next six months.
- The changes come as part of Earth Fare’s new message, “Live Longer with Earth Fare,” which the company said is a “rallying cry for Americans to choose only the cleanest, healthiest foods.”
Dive Insight:
After two years of research, Earth Fare made the decision to focus on providing healthy food that is affordable and tastes great, which means controlling the products from raw ingredient sourcing all the way to the store shelf.
By removing GMOs, the company believes that consumers will view its products as healthier and be more inclined to purchase them.
Of course, saying products without GMOs are healthier is more myth than reality. Numerous studies and food experts have said GMO products are safe and mostly developed to enhance the shelf life of products that can spoil quickly, and allow farmers to use fewer crop protection products. Consumers, they say, often reap the benefits of pesticide use with lower costs at the grocery store and a wider selection of food.
Some brands seem to be fine with making the switch since the perception is that the products are healthier and that means they can often charge more. A Huffington Post study revealed that a great percentage of people think that healthy food is more expensive than unhealthy food, and that healthy food actually needs to be expensive.