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Friday, March 8, 2013

Politics / Chow Whole Foods Institutes GMO Labeling by 2018

Posted by Anna Minard on Fri, Mar 8, 2013 at 2:53 PM

In the ongoing debate around GMO labeling, which you may care about because it'll be on the ballot in November, the AP reports today that there's a new major player:

Whole Foods says all products in its North American stores that contain genetically modified ingredients will be labeled as such by 2018.

The company says it's the first national grocery chain to set such a deadline for labeling foods that contain genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. A spokeswoman for the supermarket operator said organic foods will not have to carry the labels since they do not contain genetically modified ingredients by definition.

Whole Foods covered Washington's labeling debate in their store magazine, but didn't take a side on the initiative. The pro-labeling folks will surely call this a victory, saying it only goes to show that people support knowing what's in their food and labeling is inevitable. The anti-labeling people will surely also spin it for their side, saying consumers already have options and there's no reason to mandate labeling at the state level. And the merry-go-round continues!

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The main thing I take away from this is that Whole Foods didn't care enough to be out in front. It's no secret that they long ago abandoned a core reason for their existence, but this is just more proof of it.

Posted by Matt from Denver on March 8, 2013 at 3:25 PM

Too bad the CEO is a piece of anti-worker shit...

Posted by Former Lurker on March 8, 2013 at 3:39 PM

It's like self-directed robotic vehicles.

Nobody wants to be first, in case it turns out consumers actually care about it, and sue you for incorrect or misleading labeling and advertising.

Only in America ... sigh.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on March 8, 2013 at 4:21 PM

@ 2 - proof, please. He's anti union and libertarian, but Whole Foods is routinely a highly rated business to work for.

When someone treats employees well, anti union ≠ anti worker.

Posted by Matt from Denver on March 8, 2013 at 5:37 PM

Prediction:

All of those GMO-peddling businesses who whined that relabeling their products is too cost prohibitive will relabel them so as not to be excluded from the shelves of Whole Foods.

Posted by Free Lunch on March 8, 2013 at 6:38 PM

STRANGER readers: THERE IS NO SCIENTIFIC CONSENSUS ABOUT GMOs.

There is a sham-consensus that has been created by Agribiz-manufactured research. I'm going to be a troll about this until you all get it into your heads.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/articl…

Posted by David Trujillo