June 8, 2010

Does Pirate Booty Contain GMO Ingredients?

We recently received the following comment on our Ahoy Matey! 6 Flavors of All-Natural Pirate's Booty post.

I find this Pirate's Booty post VERY interesting... being that it is right after a GMO post... When Pirate's Booty does come from GMO corn. Just to let you know.

I was shocked to hear this information, as my kids are hooked on Pirate Booty, and I thought my only complaint was that it was not organic.

I did a little research online and could find no information to back up our reader's comment, so I emailed Robert's Gourmet and got the following response:

Dear Jennifer,
Thank you very much for taking the time to address your concerns with us. We value your opinion and truly appreciate your feedback. At this time, we seek out and purchase ingredients from non-GMO sources.

However, due to possible cross-contamination during processing and transportation and naturally occurring cross-pollination we cannot ensure that our products are 100% GMO-free; thus, we feel that it is misleading to our consumers to advertise as non-GMO.

As you may know, there is very little consistency in non-GMO labeling claims. Manufacturers can currently make claims according to their own internal criteria, which can unfortunately include empty and unsubstantiated claims. Non-GMO labeling requirements remain grey and unchecked by any federal or state regulatory entity.

Pirate Brands is committed to providing the highest quality snacks available to our consumers. At this time, we are working to tighten our systems to control those critical points where the risk of cross-contamination is highest. We appreciate you letting us know that this is important to you.

I'm not sure how I feel about this response. Either the company is being brutally honest and ethical about the state of cross-contamination or they are trying to pull one over on consumers. What do you think?

Recent Comments

Well said Laurie!

Posted by: Jennifer Lance at March 25, 2011 12:18 AM

I'm late to the party on this thread but if you are eating a corn product (and what kid from a well-meaning, food-aware family hasn't tried pirate's booty) that is not labeled organic--it is most very most very most (have I made this clear) likely to be GMO corn. I would stay away from this product which offers empty calories and contaminated food source. What's more, it's proliferation of the whole foods markets (it's not carried at my co-op which makes a point to weed out the fake "natural" stuff and it's hip-appeals-to-the-organics-generation branding while refusing to go the distance and support organic farmers is reason enough for me to put my money elsewhere)

Cheers,
Laurie

Posted by: Laurie at March 24, 2011 11:55 PM