Jack Daniel's Maker Switches to GM Corn for Whiskey Distilling, Blames Shortage of Ingredients
Sustainable Food News -- March 2, 2009 -- One of the largest American-owned companies in the wine and spirits business said Friday that a shortage non-genetically modified corn in the marketplace will force it to use genetically modified corn for some of its whiskey distilling.PAID ADVERTISEMENT
In an update to its 2008 Corporate Responsibility report, the company said it has never been concerned by the use of GM grains in making bourbon and whiskey because none of the GM materials make it through the distilling process to the final product.
In 2000, the company opted for non-genetically modified corn, the predominant grain for making of whiskey at its Jack Daniel, Woodford Reserve, Canadian Mist, and Brown-Forman distilleries, after several consumers, particularly in Europe, expressed a preference for non-GM ingredients.
But the company said a “rapidly shrinking supply” of non-GM corn in North America is making it increasingly more difficult to source the quantity of non-GM corn required for its bourbons and whiskeys.
For example, in 2000, about 25 percent of all corn grown in the United States and 46 percent of all corn grown in Canada was genetically modified, while in 2007, 80 percent of all U.S. corn and 84 percent of all corn grown in Canada was genetically modified.
“This trend is projected to continue and, in addition to reduced plantings of non-GM corn, we estimate that cross contamination will further reduce the amount of certified non-GM corn available,” the company said.
“Our growing inability to source enough high quality non-GM corn that meets our rigorous standards has led us to the decision to use GM corn in the fall of 2009 for some of our distilling,” the company said. “While we will continue to use non-GM corn at most of our distilleries, the diminishing supply of high quality non-GMO corn available in North America will cause us to reevaluate this position as we determine our sourcing each year.”
To read the update to the sustainability report, which includes a third-party verified greenhouse gas inventory showing a 10 percent reduction in emissions for the company's U.S. and Canadian operations between 2005 and 2007, click here.
Brown-Forman has also begun developing its next full Corporate Responsibility Report, to be published this summer.
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