Saturday, March 9, 2013

Major Supermarket Joins Advocacy Groups to Creat Non-GMO Label

More Good News for Organic Food Consumers!

 
 
Only a few days after several major advocacy organizations announced measures to stem the marketplace confusion for consumers seeking truly "organic food," The New York Times reported (March 9, 2013) that "Whole Foods Market, the grocery chain. . . became the first retailer in the United States to require labeling of all genetically modified foods sold in its stores, a move that some experts said could radically alter the food industry."
 
According to the Times, "The labeling requirements announced by Whole Foods will include its 339 stores in the United States and Canada."  Its seven stores in Britain already carry labels required by the European Union.
 

The Non GMO Project

 
The Non GMO Project (http://www.nongmoproject.org) currently verifies that products carried by these stores in Britain are free of genetically engineered ingredients.  The labels to be used in the U.S. beginning in 2018 have yet to be created.  Suppliers to Whole Foods were only notified shortly before the company made the public announcement, thereby giving them five years to prepare their food products to comply with the new restrictions.
 

A Game Changer

 
Gary Hirshberg, chairman of Just Label It (http://www.justlabelit.org), called the Whole Foods decision a "game changer."  He told the Times, "We've had some pretty big developments in labeling this year,"  noting, "that 22 states now have some sort of pending labeling legislation."
 
He likened the potential impact to what happened several years ago when Wal-Mart decided to stop carrying milk from dairies that treated cows with growth hormone.  Now, only a handful of cows are injected with the hormone. 

 

 

 


No comments:

Post a Comment