Breaking from industry rivals, Campbell Soup Company will become the first major food company to begin disclosing the presence of genetically engineered ingredients like corn, soy and sugar beets in its products.
In a letter to the company’s employees, posted on Campbell’s website, Campbell’s CEO Denise Morrison wrote that the company was responding to consumers, but also wanted to avoid conflicting demands for GMO labeling by individual states. “Printing a clear and simple statement on the label is the best solution for consumers and for Campbell,” Morrison wrote.
Most of the food industry, along with the FDA, has opposed mandatory labeling of GMOs. The FDA contends there is no reason to require such labels because current GMO ingredients are identical, nutritionally, to conventional ingredients.
The food industry’s opposition to GMO labels is partly based on fear that some people would avoid products with a GMO label. This assumption about consumer behavior has rarely been tested, and Campbell’s may be betting that most consumers of Campbell’s soups and Prego pasta sauces may not actually react to a GMO label. The company says that even if the government does not require GMO labels, it will label its products anyway.
Other food companies are printing labels to comply with a new labeling law in Vermont, which is a battleground over labeling that other states have watched closely. Beginning July 1, Vermont will require disclosure of genetically engineered ingredients, a measure opposed by most major food companies, which are seeking to supersede any state’s legislation with a voluntary federal solution.
Campbell’s is also calling for federal action to mandate a uniform labeling system of foods that contain such ingredients, commonly known as GMO labeling. Other companies have reformulated a handful of products to replace such ingredients. General Mills now produces non-GMO Cheerios, and others have put labels on some products verifying that they contain no genetically engineered components.
But none have gone as far as Campbell, whose move recalls Whole Foods Markets, which announced it would require all products sold in its stores to have labels disclosing the presence of ingredients from genetically altered crops.
Other grocers like Kroger and Safeway are highlighting their selection of organic products, which by law cannot contain any genetically modified ingredients. The number of products verified by the Non-GMO Project, a nonprofit group that certifies foods that are free of ingredients from genetically engineered sources, is now in the tens of thousands.
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