Who We Are, What We Stand For,
and Why We Do What We Do
Get to know us better! Meet Silver Hills Bakery co-founders Stan and Kathy Smith and learn more about our purpose, our passion for sprouting, our health values, our commitment to food and quality, and our family business story.
Watch our short video series!
Our Commitment
to Sprouting
Silver Hills Bakery was founded in the shared belief in the goodness of sprouted whole grains. Learn how sprouting makes our bread different from conventional bread, why it matters for you and your health—and why we still think the extra time and steps it takes to make great sprouted bread is worth it after 35 years.
Our Commitment to
Quality Ingredients
The quality of food is connected to how it’s grown and what’s done to it. Learn why we’re committed to using whole food, plant-based ingredients with as little done to them as possible—both in our bakery and in the fields where they’re grown. And why we always choose non-GMO, glyphosate-tested grains.
Our Purpose
Having the opportunity to make a difference for people’s health by providing healthy food they can enjoy is what excited us in the early days of Silver Hills Bakery—and it’s still what gets us up every morning. Hear what we find meaningful and what we’re grateful for after 35 years of baking sprouted bread.
Our Health Values
Health is a journey. All the little things add up, from what you eat and drink, to the air you breathe. When you eat better, you feel better, you exercise more, and you sleep better. Hear why Stan and Kathy believe there’s always hope, and quality of life can improve one step—and one sandwich—at a time.
Our Family Business
The family component of Silver Hills Bakery as a business is special—we’re all involved somehow. Stan and Kathy share how working together as a family has made them stronger and helped the business survive and thrive in times of struggle. And why they believe the success of anything is a reflection of the team behind it.
Our Commitment:
Why We Say No to GMOs
Good health is a journey, and our family’s biggest investment. Over three decades of sprouted baking, we’ve developed a profound appreciation for the little things that promote lasting wellness: the vitality of nature, organic farming, and simple ingredients.
Raising children, we were gifted an intimate understanding of how whole, plant-based foods—especially sprouted grains—are powerful allies for optimal well-being in a busy life.
As the first non-GMO verified sprouted bakery in Canada, it’s safe to say we’re passionate about keeping genetically modified organisms (GMOs) out of all our products.
That’s why we continue to work with the internationally-recognized Non-GMO Project—a non-profit organization committed to preserving and building the non-GMO food supply.
Our Stand on GMOs
What’s the deal with GMOs?
Before we can talk about being non-GMO, we first need to define what GMOs are.
GMOs—genetically modified organisms—are plants and animal species created through gene splicing or biotechnology, also referred to as genetic engineering (GE).
(This is not the same as crossbreeding, where related species are cross-pollinated over generations to create a hybrid with desired traits. Hybrids happen in nature or are helped by a farmer’s hand—GMOs are created in a lab).
In the plant world, most GMOs are created to withstand pesticide applications or extreme temperature ranges (such as drought). Improved nutrition or higher crop yields are the intended outcomes.
Proponents of the GMO movement maintain that GMO crops are safe to eat, more nutritious, strictly regulated, environmentally beneficial, and an aid in addressing world hunger.
The truth? In many cases, GMO crops have demonstrated the opposite effect—and instead have raised many questions about consumer and environmental safety.
Add to that fact: here in Canada and the US, governments have approved GMOs for use based primarily on studies conducted by the very companies that created the GMOs and will profit from their ongoing sale and distribution.
After years of being told, “There is nothing to worry about,” consumers are becoming more educated about GMOs, and the potentially negative impact they could have on both our health and our environment.
GMOs in the Food Chain
There are a number of crop strains that have, at some point, been bio-engineered and therefore are deemed to be at risk of being GMO:
Ingredients derived from these GMO-risk crops are often used in the bread-making industry—including amino acids, citric acid, flavourings, sugar, sucrose, vegetable oil, vitamins, and yeast products.
Animal byproducts such as milk, meat, eggs, honey and other bee products are at risk as well, due to potential contamination from feed and other input factors.
Since GMO wheat has never been approved for testing or sale in North America, it was not originally a crop considered to be at risk. This changed with the discovery of GMO wheat in an Oregon field in May 2013.
The incident raised serious questions about the safety and validity of GMO experimentation performed in an uncontrolled environment—outside.
Now out in the open, genetic engineers and research scientists can no longer guarantee experimental GMO grains will not contaminate non-GMO crops through drift or wild cross-pollination by insects or animals.
The Non-GMO Movement
As consumer mistrust in the corporations engineering GMOs—and marketing terminator seeds and the patented pesticides and herbicides they manufacture to go with them—grows, the non-GMO movement is gaining momentum.
Consumers now demand transparency. They want to be informed about the presence of GMOs in their food, and in the food chain. And they’ve increased pressure on their governments to be more responsive to the numerous issues associated with GMOs.
In many cases, consumers have specifically asked that GMOs not be used in food products, and if they are, that mandatory labelling be imposed.
While more than 50 countries have banned GMOs, North American governments have been slow to respond.
Non-GMO Bread:
Testing & Traceability
The 2013 GMO wheat case in Oregon gives rise to the possibility that not all bread can be considered non-GMO bread. In light of this, testing wheat for GMOs has now become a necessity for Silver Hills Bakery.
We were one of the first to voluntarily implement mandatory GMO testing for all of our wheat. To reassure our customers that our bread is completely free from GMOs, each and every lot of wheat is tested for both quality and genetic composition.
And while using government-approved GMO ingredients like corn syrup, molasses, or vegetable protein is widespread in the bread-baking industry, Silver Hills Bakery has always used non-GMO wheat and other baking ingredients—and we will continue to do so.
Our facilities and our products are regularly inspected to ensure all our ingredients comply with non-GMO food standards.
Silver Hills Bakery has always believed that you should be able to trace the ingredients in your food back to the farms where they originated. So, you can be sure that you are getting the best, most nutritious, as-nature-intended products for you and your family.
Healthy Recipes & Sprouted Inspiration
Sprouted bread is one slice of our mission to empower, educate, and inspire healthier lives. From delicious plant-based recipes that help you make healthy meals in minutes, to stories that help you make small choices matter, we’ve got you covered.
