General Mills to Label GMOs Countrywide
General Mills will start labeling its products that contain genetically modified ingredients in response to the looming Vermont law that will require GMOs to be identified starting July 1.
In a blog post Jeff Harmening, General Mills’ chief operating officer of U.S. retail, argued for a national standard for GMO labeling, but for now the company will start labeling products that contain GMOs across the country in order to keep from driving up costs for consumers.
"As the discussions continue in Washington, one thing is very clear: Vermont state law requires us to start labeling certain grocery store food packages that contain GMO ingredients or face significant fines," wrote Harmening.
“We can’t label our products for only one state without significantly driving up costs for our consumers and we simply will not do that,” he wrote.
The labels will start hitting grocery stores over the next several weeks and customers can expect thousands of packages to be updated with new language, General Mills spokesman Mike Siemienas told USA Today.
General Mills has also added a search tool on its website to provide GMO ingredient information for hundreds of U.S. products, along with reference information. The company does have some brands that only use non-GMO ingredients, such as Annie’s.
In a blog post Jeff Harmening, General Mills’ chief operating officer of U.S. retail, argued for a national standard for GMO labeling, but for now the company will start labeling products that contain GMOs across the country in order to keep from driving up costs for consumers.
"As the discussions continue in Washington, one thing is very clear: Vermont state law requires us to start labeling certain grocery store food packages that contain GMO ingredients or face significant fines," wrote Harmening.
“We can’t label our products for only one state without significantly driving up costs for our consumers and we simply will not do that,” he wrote.
The labels will start hitting grocery stores over the next several weeks and customers can expect thousands of packages to be updated with new language, General Mills spokesman Mike Siemienas told USA Today.
General Mills has also added a search tool on its website to provide GMO ingredient information for hundreds of U.S. products, along with reference information. The company does have some brands that only use non-GMO ingredients, such as Annie’s.