Spring may have only just begun, but the food industry has summer on the mind: In July, Vermont’s mandatory GMO labeling law will go into effect, and with a federal legislative solution looking less and less likely, companies are trying to figure out how to respond to the new standards.
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It all started with General Mills making an announcement last week.
However, The disclosure may be easy to miss, except people are searching for it. A photograph given by Campbell to show compliance using the Vermont legislation showed a Spaghetti-Os can using the terms “Partially created with genetic engineering” in small produce at the bottom of the back of the can.
Advocates are urging CT to follow Vermont, the first state to pass GMO labeling legislation without a trigger.
On Friday (18 March), General Mills announced plans to label products containing genetically modified ingredients across the US.
Food companies might be throwing up their collective hands, even as they hold out hope Congress will find a national solution to the Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) labeling issue.
But if the outcome for consumers is the same in all three cases-GMO ingredients labeled on products nationwide-that isn’t exactly the case on the legislative front. Corn, sugar, soy and many other staple food ingredients are largely genetically-modified in North America. “We want to avoid a 50-state patchwork of different requirements”. So, to answer General Mills question about why it has been so hard to reach a national consensus: bullying from the large American food manufacturers. Some of its key members include: Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, The Hershey Company, General Mills, Unilever, Kraft Foods, Del Monte Foods and the H.J Heinz Company, as well as agri-food/GMO giants Monsanto, Cargill and ConAgra.
The GMA is a “who’s who” of numerous most powerful food corporations known for abusing consumers’ trust and serving up some of the worst health-damaging “manufactured food” found in grocery stores. A growing body of evidence connects GMO’s with health problems, environmental damage and violation of both farmers and consumers rights, the advocates contend. In more than 60 countries around the world, there are significant restrictions or outright bans on the production and sale of GMO’s.
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The candy company Mars is following General Mills and Campbell’s actions as the new standards loom.
