Large Spice Company goes Organic and non-GMO

McCormick spices have decided that they want to join the clean food movement, meaning that the largest spice company in the world will be almost all organic and non-GMO by 2016!

Everywhere there is the news and awareness of organic fruits and vegetables; along with the clean processing and feeding of our meats and seafood, well we also need to become aware of our spices and seasonings that we use and consume.

We consume close to a billion pounds of spices per year and that number is growing as consumers become aware of the health benefits of many of the spices we use in our food preparations.

The processing of spices can be contaminated with toxins just like our foods. This has been dealt with by the United States by sterilizing the spices with toxic chemicals, the most common being ethylene oxide, which is a gas that leaves a residue on the spices that can be harmful to human health.

In fact workers who have prolonged exposure to the gas have suffered from cancer. The chemicals are so bad that they have been banned in many European countries and Japan, but not here in the United States.

By 2016 80 percent of McCormick’s products will have this new standard in their products, and will label their products so that consumers will know that they are eating non-GMO and organic spices.

Many of the company’s herbs are non-GMO already, but the company wants to be completely transparent on their labels. They also plan to release a new non-GMO vanilla extract that will compete with rival companies.

McCormick Spice Company moving to non-GMO, organic spices by 2016 will be updating their processing and will be using steam treatment instead of harmful chemicals to preserve their spices!

McCormick also wants its customers to know that they do not use irradiation and harmful chemicals on their spices, but instead preserve their spices through steam treatments already, so their next step in serving their customers will be to be organic and non-GMO.

They are making this announcement right before holiday cooking season. The company is hoping that their spices will make their way back into homes across the world as consumers grow to trust the company again!