Whole Foods Market Inc. (Austin, Texas) is now requiring labeling of all genetically modified foods sold in its stores.
Company president A. C. Gallo said the new labeling requirement, to be in place within five years, came in response to consumer demand. “We’ve seen how our customers have responded to the products we do have labeled,” he said. “Some of our manufacturers say they’ve seen a 15 percent increase in sales of products they have labeled.”
The labeling requirements announced by Whole Foods will include its 339 stores in the United States and Canada. Since labeling is already required in the European Union, products in its seven stores in Britain are already marked if they contain genetically modified ingredients. The labels currently used show that a product has been verified as free of genetically engineered ingredients. The labels Whole Foods will use in 2018, which have yet to be created, will identify foods that contain such ingredients.
The Grocery Manufacturers Association issued a statement opposing the move. “These labels could mislead consumers into believing that these food products are somehow different or present a special risk or a potential risk,” said Louis Finkel, executive director of government affairs. He said that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the World Health Organization and the American Medical Association had all deemed genetically modified products safe.
But Gary Hirshberg, chairman of Just Label It, a campaign for a federal requirement to label foods containing genetically modified ingredients, called the Whole Foods decision a “game changer.”
“We’ve had some pretty big developments in labeling this year,” he said, adding that 22 states now have some sort of pending labeling legislation. “Now, one of the fastest-growing, most successful retailers in the country is throwing down the gantlet.”