“Healthy” Hummus Contaminated with Monsanto’s Roundup

Press Release

Contact Debbie Luican

(949) 484-3365

[email protected]

August 31, 2018 - Hummus is the go-to snack for most people who consider themselves healthy. Apparently, the brand of hummus has now become much more important. Today, Moms Across America released test results of 10 hummus samples from 8 brands and all but 1 tested positive. Glyphosate is found in Monsanto’s popular weed killer, Roundup, and is commonly sprayed on garbanzo beans as a drying agent before harvest. The chemical glyphosate has been making the headlines for the past two weeks due to the Johnson v Monsanto trial verdict, in which a school pesticide applicator was awarded 289.32 million dollars from the chemical giant Monsanto for “malice and oppression” or hiding the fact that they knew that their product could cause cancer. The hummus brands that contained glyphosate were  Kirkland Signature, Sabra, Trader Joe’s, and Safra. Lilly’s Hummus was the only brand that had a non-detectable result.

Zen Honeycutt, Founding Executive Director of Moms Across America stated, “Glyphosate residues in hummus are not surprising, due to the farming practice of spraying garbanzo beans with glyphosate as a drying agent or pre-harvest herbicide, but these results are still terribly disturbing. The agriculture industry has known since  2015 that the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as a probable carcinogen. They had ample time to discontinue the practice of spraying this herbicide on their crops. We hope now, with these results and the verdict of the Johnson v Monsanto lawsuit, that the EPA will revoke the license of glyphosate and farmers will stop using harmful chemicals.”

Canadian activist Tony Mitra released records of 7,800 glyphosate test result findings from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in his book Poison Foods of North America. In those documents, results for glyphosate residues on garbanzo beans were some of the highest levels, up to nearly 800 ppb. In comparison, studies have shown only 1 part per trillion has been shown to increase the growth of breast cancer cells. Even organic garbanzo beans were found to be contaminated with glyphosate residues, pointing to the inability for chemical farming and organic farming to co-exist.

Honeycutt, who initiated the first glyphosate testing surveys in 2013 on tap water, children’s urine, and breast milk, has long been asking the EPA to revoke the license of glyphosate.

Honeycutt states, “The fact is that the EPA approves these pesticides and herbicides that are sprayed on our food crops based on studies of one ingredient in the products, not the final formulation. Therefore, any claims that these chemicals we are feeding our family, at any level, are safe is scientifically unfounded. In fact, new studies show them to be extremely harmful, and therefore must be avoided. We hope all hummus brands will publicly state that they will only accept clean, non-glyphosate sprayed ingredients.”

Full report here.

Moms Across America is a 501c3 non profit whose motto is “Empowered Moms, Healthy Kids.”

Glyphosate in Hummus Test Results Report
Moms Across America
August 31, 2018

August 31, 2018 - Hummus is the go-to snack for most people who consider themselves healthy. Apparently, the brand of hummus has now become much more important. Today, Moms Across America released the test results of 10 hummus samples from 8 brands showing concerning levels of glyphosate residues. All but 1 of the samples tested positive for quantifiable levels. Glyphosate is found in Monsanto’s popular weed killer Roundup and is commonly sprayed on garbanzo beans as a drying agent prior to harvest. The chemical glyphosate has been making numerous headlines in the past two weeks due to the verdict in the Johnson v Monsanto trial. Johnson was a school pesticide applicator and was awarded 289.2 million dollars by the jury from the chemical giant Monsanto for “malice and oppression” or hiding the fact that they knew that their glyphosate herbicide could cause cancer. The hummus brands testing positive for glyphosate residue were Kirkland Signature, Sabra, Cedar’s, Simply Balanced, Trader Joe’s, Sadaf, and Hope. Lilly’s organic hummus was the only brand that had a non-quantifiable result for glyphosate.

Zen Honeycutt, Founding Executive Director of Moms Across America stated, “Glyphosate residues in hummus are not surprising, due to the farming practice of spraying garbanzo beans preharvest with glyphosate as a drying agent, but these results are terribly disturbing. The agriculture industry has known since 2015 that the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as a probable carcinogen. They had ample time to discontinue the practice of spraying this herbicide on their crops. We hope now, with these results and the verdict of the Johnson v Monsanto lawsuit, that the EPA will revoke the license of glyphosate and farmers will stop using harmful chemicals.”

Lilly’s Hummus representative stated that they source their garbanzo beans from organic farmers in California. When asked about the absence of glyphosate in their products they stated, regarding their suppliers, “They perform random field pre-checks on crops, and recognize glyphosate as one of the worst herbicides. We’re very gratified to produce a nourishing product safe for individuals and families free of this substance.”