Industry giants such as Mars, The Kellogg Co and ConAgra Foods are hopping on the bandwagon to pledge GMO labelling nationwide to their products after Campbell soup was the first to announce a nationwide GMO labeling commitment back in January. Paul Norman, president of Kelloggs also announced the company’s belief in transparency and the launch of OpenForBreakfast.com, a website where consumers can ask questions about Kellogg’s food, ingredients and products- this is a similar tactic to the website that General Mills launched with its labeling announcement, Ask.GeneralMills.com. I like the idea of this sort of website that Kelloggs is adding in addition to their labeling announcement because it allows for an open two-sided conversation and engages the consumer while also showing the public that the company wants to engage in a transparent conversation.
Currently, there are individual state laws and restrictions around GMO labeling, which leads to patches and inconsistency nationwide in the US. State-by-state labeling requirements increase major complications and costs for food companies, so these food giants have been urging their congress to pass a federal solution as quickly as possible to improve consistency, and a national and uniform approach for GMO labelling.
I find it surprising that Mars and Kelloggs have not already been labeling their products, because as industry giants, huge organizations like this should be setting an example and leading the industry with any major trends or updates. I can understand how some food companies may not want to label their products because of the complications and increased costs in doing so caused by the state-by-state differences in restrictions and laws, but as leaders in the food industry, they should have the resources and capital to label their products despite the complications. I’m also curious as to why there are differences in laws and restrictions around GMO labeling per state, even though these states are all in the same country and nation… what kind of factors are leading to these complications and differences? Why can’t the congress make a federal solution and unify all of the GMO labeling laws?
HenryLiu
April 10, 2016 — 7:27 pm
great post and we as consumers must be aware of certifications and labelling. as someone who works in the health food industry i can relate. the simpler the products, the easier to label them as non-GMO after Health Canada confirms a certificate of analysis for the specific product. however, if a product is complicated and even one ingredient inside is GMO, they will be unable to certify it as non-GMO. some products require excipients that cannot be made in a non-GMO form and thus a product may never be certified as non-GMO even though the company is making full efforts to do so.
i believe though that many companies can definitely make an effort and create a label that may not necessarily state non-GMO certified, but shows that they are sourcing non-GMO ingredients to create their product.