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Megan Westgate

Megan Westgate

Executive director of The Non-GMO Project

Jun 23, 2026

PatHOST
6:16
But looking back, because you were there in the earliest days, what made the butterfly successful?
6:26
Well, it really, I would say it's successful because it was meeting a real demand.
6:32
And it was retailers who were the founding board of the Non-GMO Project.
6:37
I was working at Food Conspiracy Co-op in Tucson when the project started.
6:42
And the original conversation was with the Natural Grocery Company in the Bay Area and Big Carrot Co-op in Toronto and Good Earth.
6:54
And so, yeah, Strong, it was really independent and co-ops who were seeing shoppers come in and ask, how do I find the non-GMO food? And there wasn't an answer.
7:07
So that ability, like retailers are at such like the critical intersection where our food system, our packaged food system is co-created through retailers.

13 MINS LATER

PatHOST
20:39
And I think it it it almost helps to at least visualize where you got to the answer to my next question, which is why did you decide ultra processed foods were the next big issue? Like, why now?

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