GE Ingredients in Processing

How does OMRI evaluate GE materials for use as ingredients in processed organic food products labeled as “organic” or “made with organic ingredients”?

By Taryn Kennedy

Ingredients and processing aids that are directly produced through genetic engineering (GE) are prohibited. OMRI uses 5 criteria to evaluate whether a product is directly produced through GE and is therefore prohibited: 1) Is the product a live GE organism or a live organism derived from a GE organism? 2) Does the product contain modified DNA that will be incorporated into a product for human consumption? 3) Is the product made in such a way that requires the source organisms to be GE? 4) If the GMO component is an incidental additive, is it in direct contact with the final product? 5) Is the GMO component intact?

Reviewing the full manufacturing process of an ingredient or processing aid is essential for determining whether the product complies with OMRI’s evaluation criteria for GE material used in organic food processing. For example, the enzyme chymosin (rennet) is allowed as a processing aid when derived from the stomach lining of ruminants; however, chymosin is also produced using GE organisms, in which case it would be prohibited. Citric acid is produced using the fungus, Aspergillus niger, but both GE and non-GE strains of the fungus are available. If GE A. niger is modified to produce greater amounts of citric acid, then the citric acid produced is derived from a GE microorganism and is prohibited. Lactic acid is allowed as a nonorganic ingredient or processing aid as long as the bacteria that ferment the whey to produce it are not GE. 

Substrate used in microbial fermentation to produce products such as yeast and enzymes may contain GE components. If the microorganism is not GE but the substrate that the microbe consumes for growth consists of GE ingredients, the resulting yeasts and enzymes are not considered products of GE. For example, citric acid is allowed when produced from a non-GE strain of A. niger even if the fermentation substrate used contains a GE trait (e.g., molasses or high fructose corn syrup from GE beet sugar). Because the fungus biologically transforms GE protein in the substrate, the final citric acid product would be allowed as a non-GE ingredient. Ingredients that are not biologically transformed, and remain in the final product, such as corn starch and vegetable oils, must be derived from non-GE sources. In addition, no GE carriers or fillers may be added to processing aids or ingredients.

Revised and updated in November 2017 by OMRI Technical Director Johanna Mirenda. This article was originally published in the Spring 2015 edition of the OMRI Materials Review newsletter.