Why buy Cert ID?


For decades, foods sold in mainstream retail stores, especially those products manufactured by the large national and international brands, enjoyed a high level of consumer confidence. These brand names, coupled with the presence of and surveillance by government regulatory agencies, offered a great degree of assurance to “the shopping housewife” that the food she bought in her neighborhood grocery store was safe and fit for her family.

Around 1990, consumers in various parts of the world were confronted with news headlines informing them about many problems and even “scandals” in the food and feed industry. The sheer number of catastrophes and near-catastrophes, including the dioxin scandal, “Mad Cow Disease” (BSE), Foot & Mouth Disease (FMD), and the broadly expanding occurrence of food-related allergies, have caused a rising wave of uncertainty among consumers, primarily in Europe, Japan, Korea and lately, in North America and Brazil.

What next...  GMOs?

In 1996, with the advent of the first food items produced from genetically modified organisms (GMOs), together with the previous food crises, many consumers began to lose faith in the products they consumed. The debate between the biotechnology industry and consumer groups and concerned scientists became so that entire industries in parts of the world decided to 1) give consumers a choice on what they were buying to eat, or 2) would declare that entire categories of food items were made completely without the use of any GMO material.

The CERT ID 'Non-GMO' certification program goes beyond existing labeling laws, such as those in the European Union, that require only labeling of food items if they contain more than 0.9% GMO ingredients. CERT ID is designed to help supermarket shoppers identify at a glance whether a product is 'Non-GMO.'

Experience Counts

Because of the complexity of food production and raw material sourcing, transportation and storage, a food manufacturer or retailer cannot ensure that a product on a the shelf is non-GM. Experienced and independent certification bodies, such as CERT ID, focus entirely on delivering this type of 'Non-GMO' assurance.

Because CERT ID is a third party, independent of the agricultural, biotechnology and the food industry, it has earned the respect and trust of the retail industry and consumer groups around the world. CERT ID is the pioneer in this type of certification. Products displaying the 'Non-GMO' seal are assured to contain a maximum of 0.1% GMOs. That is almost one tenth of the current labelling threshold in the EU! Learn more about CERT ID-certified products in the next section "Who is Certified?"

Who is Certified?