Beyond GMOs: Testing the System with John Fagan

For nearly three decades, John Fagan has worked at the intersection of molecular biology and food system transparency, helping build the scientific infrastructure behind the non-GMO movement. From early GMO detection methods to his current work in advanced analytical testing, his career traces how the organic and non-GMO sector has learned to define and verify integrity.

Fagan founded Genetic ID in 1996 as genetically engineered crops entered global markets with little practical oversight. Regulators lacked even the most basic tool to distinguish engineered crops from conventional ones. “They had been confronted with an unsolvable problem,” Fagan shared. By introducing genetic testing, he reframed the issue entirely. “You can test for them,” he recalled explaining to European officials, a shift that “gave them the power to make decisions.”

That capability helped establish testing as the backbone of non-GMO verification. Genetic ID went on to launch laboratories in the United States, Japan, and Europe and trained labs in 17 countries. “That was our most important contribution,” Fagan affirmed with a smile. The same early infrastructure helped catalyze what became the Non-GMO Project, as retailers and brands moved to protect “the integrity and the credibility of the organic industry.”