According to a post on the company’s blog, General Mills will begin labeling genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on its product packaging. Similarly, Mars recently announced that it will introduce on-pack labeling on its products that contain GM ingredients nationwide. The companies are making the move in order to comply with the state of Vermont mandatory genetically modified ingredient labeling law that requires most human food products containing GM ingredients to include on-pack labeling as of July 2016.
“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,” said Jeff Harmening, executive vice president and chief operating officer for U.S. Retail at General Mills in the post that appeared on the company’s blog “A Taste of General Mills.” “The result: consumers all over the U.S. will soon begin seeing words legislated by the state of Vermont on the labels of many of their favorite General Mills products.”
In the announcements, both companies stressed that they believe GM ingredients are safe and that every major health and safety agency in the world agrees that GMOs are not a health or safety concern. However, they both acknowledge that consumers are interested in knowing which products contain GMO ingredients.
While General Mills works to implement the labeling on packaging, it has added a search tool on its website, found at Ask.GeneralMills.com, to provide GMO ingredient information for hundreds of its U.S. products, along with reference information.
