First General Mills announced its plans to label GMOs, and now 2 more Big Food companies are following the company’s lead. Both Kellogg’s and Mars will now label many of their products with the words, “produced with genetic engineering” if they contain GMO ingredients, starting in mid-April.
Big Food Finally Bows to Consumer Pressure for GM Labeling
Just as General Mills will be doing, Mars and Kellogg’s are complying with Vermont’s first-in-the-nation mandatory GMO labeling requirements that take effect in July.
Kellogg North America President Paul Norman said the labels will appear nationwide, not just in Vermont:
“…because a special label for Vermont would be costly for us and our consumers.”
Mars made a similar statement:
“In 2014, the state of Vermont passed a mandatory genetically modified (GM) ingredient labeling law that requires most human food products containing GM ingredients to include on-pack labeling as of July 2016. To comply with that law, Mars is introducing clear, on-pack labeling on our products that contain GM ingredients nationwide.”
Though Mars, Kellogg’s, and General Mills have all quoted the cost of labeling as a concern, it is more likely the companies are moved by the huge public outcry against Big Food’s shady tactics regarding food labeling. Consumers Union has said GM labeling will cost individuals less than a penny a person a day.
When you consider that the Grocery Manufacturer’s Association, of which all these big corporations are a part, has paid MILLIONS to try to defeat mandatory GM labeling, stooping to fraud even, then of course the claims that cost is the deciding factor to go ahead and finally label is likely pure bunk.
“It would amount to less than the cost of a gallon of milk. We are pleased that a fair, independent study was published to finally show that GE food labeling essentially adds no cost to consumers.”
Of course companies like Kellogg’s have been accused of fraud before, as in the case of labeling their foods ‘natural’ when they were riddled with GMOs. What is more likely driving this sea-change in Big Food compliance with mandatory labeling is the realization that they have completely alienated their consumer base.
Sources:
Agri-Pulse
Mars photo credit: WILL BURGESS/REUTERS
Kellogg’s photo credit: (AP File Photo)