October 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et1to7Hv8ao "Would you like to round-up?" is a phrase you've likely heard many times if you've been into Valley Natural Foods. This question is a part of our Register Round-Up program where we partner with you to give back to the community. Register Round-Up donations go to local organizations that do fantastic work. These donations go to local food shelves, providing healthy snacks for elementary school students, and a program called Midwest Food Connection. From their website: "Midwest Food Connection (MFC) had its beginnings in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and Saint Paul, MN) when two natural food co-ops started a community outreach initiative in 1993. Four years later a group of committed educators founded our non-profit to bring natural foods education to a broad range of area schools. The programming has grown and flourished ever since." We spoke with Emily Houser, an Educator with Midwest Food Connection to learn

October is Non-GMO month, and the Non-GMO Project asks that you help spread the word and stand up for the right to know what ingredients are in our food. Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMOs, exist in one form or another in 80% of conventional American packaged foods, and can be found primarily in foods that contain corn, soy, canola and sugar beets. These ingredients are artificially manipulated to combine genes from other sources, through processes that do not occur in nature or through traditional crossbreeding. Though GMOs are used with specific goals in mind such as resistance to pests or increased yields, the long-term effects of GMOs on our health and our environment are not yet fully known or understood.  In fact, 60 countries around the world, including all members of the European Union, have banned or restricted the sale of food