Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
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T hree little letters have become the hot-button food issue of the decade. Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, have brought forth a surge of impassioned campaigns both for and against their presence in the nation's food supply. Everyone has an opinion about it—even those who don't quite understand it. And while conventional channels may still be a few years from being caught up in the heat of the debate, the topic is white hot in specialty foods. Yet even with all this discussion and focus, there is much confusion around GMOs. It's been just 20 years since genetically engineered crops first entered commercial production in the U.S., and their relative youth may be part of the challenge researchers face in calculat- ing the full potential health impacts of GMOs. The politically charged battles that have risen as a result have fueled some of the claims around GMOs that range from calling them "completely safe" to "deadly." This consequence may be what inspired a new movement, focusing on transparency over outright prohibition. The Non-GMO Project was launched in 2007 to build aware- ness and help consumers find products that are free of GMOs. Organic Voices launched the Just Label It campaign in 2011 to support mandatory labeling laws that have cropped up—most prominently, California's Prop 37 in 2012 and Washington state's I-522 in 2013, both subsequently voted down by narrow margins. The movement came to a head in March 2013, when Whole Foods Market, the nation's largest natural foods grocer (posting nearly $13 billion in sales in 2013), announced it would require the labeling of all products in its stores that contain or may contain genetically modified ingredients by 2018. (Whole Foods reps declined an interview for this article.) According to the Center for Food Safety, as of April, some 26 states are currently considering labeling laws or the banning of GMOs altogether. To date, three states— Connecticut, Maine, and Vermont—have enacted mandatory-labeling laws, a first step toward federal regulation, proponents say. To Label or Not to Label As the regulatory battle plays out, keeping customers loyal may be more about action than opinion. In an online column dated Feb. 18, consumer researcher The Hartman Group strongly advised producers to be proactive with consumers to maintain trust. "For some companies, talking about GMOs will mean finding out if it is feasible from cost and other standpoints to remove GMOs from their products … For other companies, it could mean talking openly about why they use GMOs and what would happen if they stopped—to prices, for example," the group wrote. Surveys consistently show that a majority of consumers support labeling genetically engineered foods, across demographics and political party lines. In 2012, research firm The Mellman Group found that 91 percent of consumers want the FDA to mandate labeling. Reader polls from The New York Times, Reuters, The Washington Post, and a slew of others TIMELINE: The Rise of the GMO Movement 1994: A tomato is the first genetically engineered food to be commercially grown in the U.S. 1997: The EU mandates labeling of genetically modified foods for all member countries. 2007: The Non-GMO Project is founded. 2011: Organic Voices, chaired by Stonyfield's Gary Hirshberg, launches the Just Label It campaign. 2012: CA Proposition 37 is introduced in California; it fails in the Nov. general election. 2013: Whole Foods Markets announces GMO-labeling initiative in March. WA Initiative 522 is introduced in Washington state; it fails in the Nov. general election. By December, Connecticut becomes the first state to pass a GMO-labeling law, contingent on neighboring states enacting similar legislation 2014: Maine passes a GMO- labeling law, also with a contingency clause. In April, a Kansas congressman introduces a bill to federally prohibit the mandatory labeling of foods. On May 8, Vermont enacts a GMO- labeling law, the first to do so with no contingency clause. That same day, the Grocery Manufacturers Association announces plans to file a lawsuit against the bill. In March 2013 Whole Foods Market, the nation's largest natural foods grocer, announced it would require the labeling of all products in its stores that contain or may contain genetically modifed ingredients by 2018. SUMMER 2014 33 lede_GMO.indd 33 6/5/14 11:44 AM