Leveraging Your NSF Certification: Now that you've received NSF Certification ... why not leverage the Mark to your advantage.
Over the past decade, genetically modified foods have become more and more pervasive in our day-to-day food purchases. Many food manufacturers, producers, packagers, processors, and farmers have become diligent in wanting to segregate products that contain GMOs from those that do not.
NSF's state of the art GMO detection technology can not only detect GMOs in nearly all food products, but it can also quantify exactly how much genetically modified material is present. These tools can be particularly helpful for NSF's clients who choose to export their products to countries that only require a certain amount of genetically modified material in products.
Because GMO's appear at every level of the supply chain, product testing can have benefits at all levels of production.
NSF GMO test reports can be used to ensure that seed shipments contain the correct species. Benefits: Farmers who wish to plant genetically modified crops for pest-control or yield, as well as farmers who wish to plant specifically Non-GMO fields. Reporting accuracy within 0.01% is crucial in order for farmers to maintain the integrity of their crops.
In order to win contracts with some of the country's largest food manufacturers, strict growing controls are placed on many farmers. NSF's customizable test reports can indicate performance compared to specific criteria set upon farmers. Other farmers want to confirm that their products either do or do not contain genetically modified crops. The reasons for this testing can vary from pesticide usage to organic labeling.
Many processors service a variety of clients with different needs. Some shipments may need to not contain modified crops due to export restrictions while at the same time, other shipments benefit from modified crops due to their heartier nature and resistance to premature ripening and bruising. Crop producers can demonstrate their shipments' contents to clients through clear NSF test reports.
In order to secure a global marketplace, food product manufacturers are beginning to look at requiring suppliers to meet non-GMO criteria in order to successfully bid on contracts (shipments must contain less than a certain percent of modified material). While this is a step in the right direction, this practice does not completely protect manufacturers from strict international customs legislation (finished goods exhibit the cumulative GMO content of all ingredients). Manufacturers can use NSF test reports as a tool in gaining worldwide product acceptance.
One of the criteria required in order to bear the USDA "Certified Organic" label is to demonstrate that your product does not contain genetically modified material. Keep your sales options open by guaranteeing the contents of shipments with NSF test reports.