[G]eneral Mills, one of the nation’s largest food manufacturers, announced Friday it will begin labeling products with genetically engineered ingredients in order to comply with a Vermont law.
The announcement was made just two days after the defeat of a Senate bill that would have blocked Vermont from implementing a mandatory GMO labeling law on July 1. The law introduced by Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, would have made labeling voluntary. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., pushed to kill the bill, and it failed by one vote.
That left the food manufacturing industry with a short window for complying with Vermont’s law.
In a blog post, Jeff Harmening, the chief operating officer for General Mills, said the company “can’t label our products for only one state without significantly driving up costs for our consumers and we simply will not do that.
Harmening says while 20 years of research have shown there are no health risks associated with GMOs, still, he says, “we know that some consumers are interested in knowing which products contain GMO ingredients.”
The company posted a product list with ingredient disclosures on its website as part of the announcement. A few of the products with GMO ingredients listed on the site include: flavored Cheerios (the plain cereal is GMO free), FiberOne bars, Gushers Fruit Snacks, Lucky Charms, Nature Valley Granola Bars and Pillsbury Cookie Dough.
Many of the products manufactured by food companies contain high fructose corn syrup or soybean oils. Soybeans and corn in the United States are largely produced from genetically engineered seeds that are resistant to herbicides.
General Mills is the second major manufacturer to announce plans to label GMO ingredients. Campbell Soup decided to change its labeling practices in January.
In a statement on Friday, the Grocery Manufacturers Association urged Congress to take action in April to prevent Vermont’s law from going into effect, which the company says will lead to a “costly patchwork of state labeling laws.”
“Today’s announcement is the latest example of how Vermont’s looming labeling mandate is a serious problem for businesses,” the company said in a statement. “Food companies are being forced to make decisions on how to comply and having to spend millions of dollars. One small state’s law is setting labeling standards for consumers across the country.”
The Grocery Manufacturers Association is suing Vermont over the law in the Second District Court of Appeals. The association says the state statute violates the First Amendment.
Vermont officials were elated by the General Mills decision.
Leahy applauded the company for “taking this commonsense and consumer-friendly step.”
“Vermonters have long supported labeling, our fellow Americans agree, and Congress should do the same,” Leahy said. “We in Vermont are proud that our state’s law has been the catalyst that is moving us toward a uniform national standard. Our success this week in sidelining the Senate bill to nullify Vermont’s law has added to the momentum for the national labeling bill that Senator Merkley, I and others in the Senate have brought forward to settle this issue. The straightforward logic of our bill is that consumers have the right to know.”
Gov. Peter Shumlin, who signed the Vermont GMO labeling legislation into law, urged other companies to follow General Mills’ lead.
“While Monsanto and their allies continue working to derail Vermont’s law, I am encouraged that companies like General Mills and Campbell’s Soup are standing up and doing the right thing,” Shumlin said in a statement. “It’s time for the rest of corporate America to break with Monsanto and give consumers the information they are demanding. People have the right to know what is in their food. I am so proud that Vermont is leading the country on this issue.”
