The "GM Free" symbol means that Comvita products do not contain any ingredients coming from plants or animals modified by gene technology (commonly called "genetic modification" or GM).

"Genetic modification" means removing genes from one plant or animal species, and putting them into another. For instance, scientists might take a piece of DNA from a frog that gives the frog protection from viruses, and put the DNA into the genes of soybeans so that the soybeans will also be protected from viruses. The result is a soybean plant that is at least partly also a frog!

The plants and animals that produce ingredients used in Comvita products are natural, and have not been changed by putting any genes from another plant or animal into them. Unlike other places in the world, no commercial crops of any GM plants are being grown in New Zealand.

Comvita is opposed to the genetic modification of food. The company has taken this position because it holds core values regarding the power of natural products to enhance human health, and because it believes the well-being of our environment is inextricably linked to the preservation of human health. Comvita believes that serious questions remain about the safety of GM food products, and argues that the public has a right to know whether it is consuming products containing genetically modified organisms. (GMO's).

Comvita relies on the humble bee for many of its products, as such Comvita is also opposed to the use of genetic engineering in agriculture because bee products are potentially the most vulnerable food products to contamination from GMO's.

The security of production of most other food products can be controlled by fences, land ownership, and seed certification. Honey bees, on the other hand, are by definition "free range", and bees can never be excluded from obtaining honey, pollen and propolis resources from any commercially produced outdoor crop.

Comvita has undertaken an audit of its products for their GM status, and has obtained GM-free sources of all ingredients with the potential to have been sourced from GMO's. As a result, in the year 2000 Comvita met its objective of becoming a totally GM-free producer of food products.