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Activists Move to 'Label' GMO Foods Themselves (8 October - Cropchoice News) -- For GMO labeling activists in the US, the strategy of the moment is "if at first you don't succeed, try, try, again." While the battles over labeling foods containing biotech crop ingredients continue, some resourceful activists have thumbed their nose at Uncle Sam and taken labels into their own hands.
At the end of last week Greenpeace released a "True Food Shopping List", an extensive inventory listing the biotech status of hundreds of supermarket foods sold across the country. The idea, according to the environmental nonprofit, is to arm nervous consumers with information that lets them avoid biotech foods.
The entire list is up on the internet for anyone to browse, and includes an interesting set of quotes from letters Greenpeace researchers were sent by food companies. The company responses vary from a defiant Kellogg's (victim of an activist anti-GMO campaign) to smaller companies that loudly proclaim non-GMO status.
One is Clif Bar, maker of popular "high energy" snack bars, who says "Clif Bar products were reformulated this spring to eliminate any corn and canola oil. Clif Bar's director of R&D looks at the source of every ingredient to assure that no genetically modified organisms are used in any Clif Bar product." Or organic producer Cascadian Farms, which flatly declares "Genetically modified organisms are not compatible with the principles of organic agriculture and food production."
The True Food Shopping List divides foods into three groups, red, yellow, and green. The colors have a pretty straightforward meaning. Red for foods that are likely to contain GMOs, yellow for foods from companies that are in the process of phasing GMOs out, and green for foods from companies. You can visit the list online by clicking here. Greenpeace representatives contacted said that the list was being welcomed by consumers; but that it was too early to put numbers on the number of users.
Source: Truefoodnow.org |
