Labeling of Genetically Modified Foods

Whether or not to require labeling of food produced from crops that are genetically modified (GM) using recombinant DNA technology is a key issue in the ongoing debate over the risks and benefits of using biotechnology in agriculture. The U.S. government regulates GM food technologies, but once GM crops are approved they are considered to be ‘substantially equivalent’ to their conventional counterparts in terms of safety. Therefore, there is no federal requirement for labeling food that contains GM ingredients. Bills and ballot initiatives requiring mandatory labeling have been introduced and voted on in several states. The first states to have approved some form of mandatory labeling are Connecticut, Maine, and Vermont. Under U.S. law, companies may voluntarily label food products to inform consumers as to whether they do or do not contain ingredients from GM crops. Genetically modified crops have been produced commercially and consumed in the U.S. since the mid-1990s. Today, the most common GM crops on the market are soybean, corn, cotton, canola, and sugar beet. (See CSU Extension Fact Sheet no. 0.710: Genetically Modified (GM) Crops: Techniques and Applications for more details.) Because many processed food products contain ingredients from one of these crops (e.g., soy protein or high fructose corn syrup), it is likely that a majority of processed foods in grocery stores include at least one GM crop ingredient (Lesser, 2013).