Glyphosate, the primary active ingredient in Roundup, is the world’s
most widely used herbicide — in the US alone, the use of glyphosate on crops
increased from 13.9 million pounds in 1992 to 287 million pounds in 2016,
according to estimates by the US Geological Survey. Labelled a “probable
carcinogen” by the World Health Organization, glyphosate has been making
headlines around the globe, thanks to a recent series of high-profile court
cases alleging that Roundup caused the plaintiffs’ non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In
both cases, jurors sided with the plaintiffs and awarded millions of dollars in
damages. Even closer to home, we’re also now seeing the impact on the
widespread usage of
glyphosate,
as multiple studies have shown its connection to declining bee
populations,
and that glyphosate residue remains on the foods we feed our families every day.
Disappointingly, the US Environmental Protection Agency still takes the
position that glyphosate doesn’t cause cancer and will not regulate food
companies to limit consumer exposure. So, while various agencies may continue to
debate the safety of glyphosate, there’s no debate for us at One Degree
Organics — and we have made a deliberate
decision to ensure all our products are free from this questionable herbicide,
making us one of the first brands to take this step.
We first began testing for glyphosate in-house in 2016. In 2017, we began
working with BioChecked, the largest independent
certification company in the U.S., when their glyphosate-free certification
first became available. For us, the third-party verification was an important
step for credibility, transparency and customer assurance, and we believe that
customers appreciate the assurance of knowing that it’s more than the marketing
department making a claim.
In order to display the BioChecked seal on our products, we test every lot of
ingredient with a third-party lab and then share the results with BioChecked,
which will not certify a product containing any measurable amount of glyphosate.
For companies that do their own testing without the third-party certification,
it is important for them to understand the parameters that the lab uses and how
accurate they are — some go to 0.0001, and some are 10 times more granular;
BioChecked detects residue down to the lowest possible detection, usually 0.01
parts per million.
For other brands considering a certification, I would encourage you to ask
yourself: What’s your commitment to this? For One Degree, it is zero tolerance.
If our product has a measurable amount of glyphosate, we pull it. It’s also
important to stay close to your suppliers; we buy ingredients from a farm, not a
pool. As a result, there is a higher likelihood that product is isolated and not
co-mingled.
While our zero-tolerance policy towards glyphosate does require a commitment,
this total food transparency is at the heart of One Degree Organics — it is
literally what the company was built on — and it’s a principle that comes alive
in every product. We believe in this food transparency wholeheartedly as a way
of bringing trust and integrity back into the food industry. As far as I can
see, glyphosate has no place in that future, and we are hopeful that even more
brands will follow suit and take the important step of certifying their products
glyphosate-free.
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Stan Smith is the co-founder, co-owner and President of Silver Hills Sprouted Bakery, Little Northern Bakehouse, One Degree Organic Foods, and private label Vibrant Health Products; as well as co-owner of Abbotsford, BC retail store the Sprouted Oven.
Published Jun 27, 2019 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST