Reheating GMO Labelling

WASHINGTON - Apr 10/14 - SNS -- A Republican congressman from Kansas has reignited the debate over mandatory labelling of GMO ingredients on food labels.

Mike Pompeo bill, titled the 'Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act' would specifically prohibit states from enacting legislation which requires processed food labels to indicate whether the ingredients were GMO or bioengineered.

The debate is useful for farmers, processors and food manufacturers who are trying to differentiate what they produce by specifically avoiding GMO. That groups markets their product as non-GMO. By inference, anything which does not specifically state that it is non-GMO should be assumed to be GMO.

There are significant and important exceptions. Currently, all pulses grown by major exporting nations such as Canada are non-GMO. A bag of lentils, peas, chickpeas or dry edible beans sold at retail is non-GMO whether or not it is labelled as such.

Educated consumers have no problem choosing non-GMO food products and ingredients. They know that if the label says nothing, the ingredients are probably GMO. In exactly the same way as foods which do not state they are certified organic are not certified organic. Consumers unwilling to use common sense and minimally educate themselves need labels.

Some opponents of mandatory labelling like to say there is no scientific basis for consumer opposition to GMO ingredients. That may be true, but people choose what they eat on a cultural and emotional level. That is well understood by bona fide marketers. That is the key to extracting full value from ordinarily undifferentiated products.

On the other hand, having this debate makes it important for the pulse industry to remind people their product is always non-GMO. It won't bother people who don't care. It will make a difference to those who do.