NYT: Seeking Food Ingredients That Aren’t Gene-Altered
Seeking Food Ingredients That Aren’t Gene-Altered
J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times
Lizanne Falsetto’s company, thinkThin, spent 18 months looking for nongenetically modified ingredients for its Crunch bars.
By STEPHANIE STROM
Published: May 26, 2013
Food companies big and small are struggling to replace genetically modified ingredients with conventional ones.
Pressure is growing to label products made from genetically modified organisms, or “G.M.O.” In Connecticut, Vermont and Maine, at least one chamber of the state legislature has approved bills that would require the labeling of foods that contain genetically modified ingredients, and similar legislation is pending in more than two dozen other states. This weekend, rallies were held around the globe against producers of genetically altered ingredients, and consumers are threatening to boycott products that are not labeled.
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The Non-GMO Project was until recently the only group offering certification, and demand for its services has soared. Roughly 180 companies inquired about how to gain certification last October, when California tried to require labeling (the initiative was later voted down), according to Megan Westgate, co-founder and executive director of the Non-GMO Project.
Nearly 300 more signed up in March, after Whole Foods announced that all products sold in its stores would have to be labeled to describe genetically engineered contents, and about 300 more inquiries followed in April, she said.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/business/food-companies-seeking-ingredients-that-arent-gene-altered.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
