同志們,“非轉基因”食品並不等於有機食品啊

It appears that sales of foods touting an absence of genetically-modified ingredients are booming in the U.S. - but some people may be surprised to learn what's actually in such foods in lieu of GMOs.

看來，吹捧不含轉基因成分的食物正在美國風靡起來--但有些人在得知轉基因食物的真實替代物之後可能會很吃驚。

Sales of products labeled by the Non-GMO Project, a nonprofit that verifies the contents of GMO-free foods, have more than doubled over the past two years - from $7 billion to $16 billion today, according to NPR's Dan Charles.

非轉基因工程是覈實非轉基因食物成分的非營利組織。據美國國家公共電臺的丹·查爾斯所述，標記着非轉基因工程的食物銷售額在過去兩年翻了一番--從70億美元增長到了今日的160億美元。

At the same time, organic foods have also been gaining in popularity.

同時，有機食物也越來越受人歡迎。

According to the Organic Trade Association's latest numbers, sales of all organic products nationwide hit $43 billion last year, representing a 34-percent increase over the $32 billion figure recorded two years earlier.

根據有機食品貿易協會最新的數據表明：去年全國的有機食品銷售額達到了430億美元，比2年前增長了34%，2年前的銷售額爲320億美元。

That's a sizable surge, of course, but nowhere near the growth observed by the non-GMO segment. This is raising the anxiety of some organic food companies, who point out that just because a product lacks GMOs doesn't mean it meets other standards those customers might be looking for.

當然，這一增長率是相當大的，但與非轉基因部門觀察到的增長率相比還相差甚遠。這就讓有些有機食品公司憂心忡忡，他們指出僅僅因爲食品中不含轉基因成分，並不意味着這些食品能滿足顧客們的其它標準。

"OK, it's great that there's a non-GMO symbol on there," Pete and Gerry's Organic Eggs CEO and owner Jesse LaFlamme told NPR. "But do you understand that that product might have been produced with pesticides, antibiotics, and with no regard for animal welfare?"

"對，有一個非轉基因的標籤貼在食品上很好，"Pete and Gerry's Organic Eggs公司的首席執行官兼老闆Jesse LaFlamme對着美國國家公共電臺說道。"但你考慮過嗎，這些食品可能是打了農藥、抗生素的，根本就沒有考慮到其它動物的死活？"

There indeed seems to be some confusion about what qualifies a food as being a "non-GMO" product and one that is certified organic. Here are some facts you might want to keep in mind the next time you're feeling overwhelmed in a supermarket aisle:

對於什麼樣的食品才能稱得上"非轉基因"食品以及什麼樣的才能稱作合格的有機食品的確讓人感到疑惑。下列事實你可能需要牢記，這樣下一次在超市裏感到困惑時就知道該怎麼辦了。

If a food has a certified organic label, it is essentially GMO-free. And this label means many other things.

如果食物上貼着認證過的有機標籤，那麼它真的是非轉基因食物。這一標籤還有其它的含義。

All organic foods are inherently "GMO-free" ― this is one of the many strict guidelines set forth by the USDA. These foods were produced without any synthetic pesticides or fertilizers and must be grown in a way that also protects soil quality.

所有的有機食品本質上都是"非轉基因"的--這是美國農業部規定的嚴格準則之一。這些食品在生產過程中沒有使用合成農藥或肥料，都是在確保土壤質量的條件下生產的。