Packaged Facts: A+ For Nation's First School District Serving 100% Organic, Non-GMO Meals

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Aug 18, 2015, 03:06 ET

ROCKVILLE, Md,, Aug, 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Later this month California's Sausalito Marin City School District will open its doors and in the process will become the first U.S. school district to provide meals that are 100% organic and non-GMO. The sustainably sourced meals will extend to breakfast, lunch, and snacks served to the more than 500 students attending the district's Bayside Martin Luther King Jr. Academy and Willow Creek Academy. The meals will be prepared on-site through The Conscious Kitchen, a program that partners with schools, guiding them to implement food programs based on five foundational terms: fresh, local, organic, seasonal, non-GMO (FLOSN)

In a phone interview with market research firm Packaged Facts, publisher of the July 2015 report Non-GMO Foods: U.S. and Global Market Perspective, 2nd Edition, a school official at the district's Bayside MLK Jr. Academy stated that the goal is to effectively enlighten the mind while nourishing the body by educating students on non-GMO products and ingredients while simultaneously providing them with sustainable meals. The hope is that students will develop a lifelong appreciation of these products. Students are also encouraged to provide feedback on the ingredients used to determine which products they'd like to see incorporated more often or less often in their school meals.

In Non-GMO Foods: U.S. and Global Market Perspective, 2nd Edition, Packaged Facts data reveals that more than four in 10 survey respondents believe that GMO food products are unsafe to eat. In addition, consumers with children in the home are 25% more inclined than average to say GMO foods are unsafe. This tendency is particularly pronounced in households with school-age children between the ages of six and 11.

California-based non-profit Turning Green (TG) launched The Conscious Kitchen in August 2013 as a pilot program at Bayside MLK Jr. Academy. Through partnerships with Whole Foods Market and others, Turning Green "reimagined" school food away from unhealthy, processed meals to transition Bayside's school kitchen into one that produced hundreds of fresh, local, organic, seasonal, and non-GMO meals made from scratch daily. The addition of Willow Creek Academy into the program will be new for the Fall 2015 school year.

The establishment of a school district serving 100% non-GMO foods is an important development that could someday in the future be looked upon as a landmark decision in the nation's education strategy. Even though the long-term effects of genetically modified foods remain unclear, the battle between pro-and anti-GMO forces shows no sign of abating. If anything it seems to be getting more intense. In the U.S., 80% to 90% of such key crops as corn, soybeans, and cotton are grown from genetically modified (GM) seeds.

Non-GMO Foods: U.S. and Global Market Perspective, 2nd Edition reviews the stakeholders in the controversy, both pro- and anti-GMO, and the current intensifying conflict between them in the courts, legislatures, fields, stores, and restaurants in the U.S. and around the globe. The report also reviews new non-GMO food and beverages, as well as recent breakthroughs in GM foods and the reaction to them. In addition, the report offers growth projections for non-GMO food sales in the U.S. and global markets and the results of an exclusive Packaged Facts national online consumer survey regarding their beliefs about GMO foods. For more information on or to purchase Non-GMO Foods: U.S. and Global Market Perspective, 2nd Edition visit: http://www.packagedfacts.com/redirect.asp?progid=87736&productid=8775964.

About Packaged Facts – Packaged Facts, a division of MarketResearch.com, publishes market intelligence on a wide range of consumer market topics, including consumer demographics and shopper insights, consumer financial products and services, consumer goods and retailing, consumer packaged goods, and pet products and services. Packaged Facts also offers a full range of custom research services. Reports can be purchased at www.PackagedFacts.com and are also available on www.marketresearch.com and www.profound.com.

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SOURCE Packaged Facts