Whole Foods to label genetically-modified foods
Credit: NICOLAUS CZARNECKI/METRO
Whole Foods has played an important role in getting us to care about the food we’re putting in our bodies.
The grocery store is taking it a step further. Whole Foods said they will not require labels on all genetically-modified foods they sell.
The push to disclose more information about genetically modified foods has existed for a while, but Whole Foods is the first retailer in the nation to require the labels. Even so, it will take five years for the new requirement to take effect.
The label requirement will take place in its 330 stores in the United States and Canada. Labeling is already required in the European Union, so products in the seven Whole Foods stores in Britain are already marked.
For the time being, Whole Foods labels foods that are guaranteed to contain no genetically modified ingredients as such.
“We’ve seen how our customers have responded to the products we do have labeled,” A.C. Gallo, president of Whole Foods, said to the New York Times. “Some of our manufacturers say they’ve seen a 15 percent increase in sales of products that have been labeled.”
Follow Mary Ann Georgantopoulos on Twitter @marygeorgant
