I do love the “whole pay check” (aka Whole Foods) but there have been a few icky issues regarding labeling. Just because you walk into the world’s largest “Health Emporium” it doesn’t mean that everything is organic and non-GMO. This came as a huge shock to my husband, who I gave strict instructions to on his last shopping trip there: “Read the labels carefully,” I warned. “Especially in the produce aisles!”
He had no idea that a good 50% of the produce in our local Wholefoods in NOT organic. “So – I not only have to pay and arm and a leg for this stuff,” he retorted. “But, now I have to take a magnifying glass in with me to read labels?”
You really do need to read your labels in health food stores. Just because a store is deemed “healthy,’ or a product is “gluten-free,” it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s healthier. We have to still be vigilant label-readers.
Wholefoods is now going to make the label-reading issue a little easier for us because it has just announced that it will require mandatory labeling of all foods containing GMO ingredients. They will phase in this initiative over the next 5 years – giving their suppliers time to square it all away. This is a huge decision and very important, because unlike “organic” labeling, where we can choose to buy organic if we want to, we don’t get a choice with GMO. Why? Because most of the time we don’t have a clue whether we are eating genetically-modified ingredients or not. Most soy and corn crops in the US are GMO, and these 2 crops are extremely prevalent on our grocery store shelves.
Some people argue that GMO crops are safe, and others (including Wholefoods,) feel that the long term risks of humans eating genetically-modified organisms, has not been tested adequately. Given the choice personally – I’ll steer clear of anything with a question mark – and I’d really appreciate KNOWING if the foods I’m eating contain ingredients that have this giant question mark.
Propostion 37, which would have required all foods in the state to label GMO ingredients, was narrowly defeated earlier this year because of the staunch opposition (and colossal funding,) by huge food giants, Monsanto and DuPont. This is why Wholefoods’s decision to enforce this labeling sets a high and necessary bar. Many other grocery chains are now going to feel compelled to step up to the plate, too.
It’s about time. Wholefoods in Europe already enforces this labeling policy because consumers are a lot more vociferous about what they want over there. There’s no reason why our right to know in the USA, should be considered less pressing that our friends in Europe. WE DO HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW!
So, good for Wholefoods. However, some activists are a little more cynical about the Wholefoods decision – they think that Wholefoods was strong-armed into making it because huge brands such as Coca Cola, Walmart, and Conagra broke ranks with Monsanto in January because they realized that their alliance with this monster biotech corporation, was costing them millions in campaign contributions, and more important, was losing them customer loyalty. If these giants were waking up – well, come on…Wholefoods is supposed to be the healthy guy! Moreover consumers were getting a bit fed up with the “traitor” brands that Wholefoods carried such as Kellogg’s Kashi cereals, which had donated millions to defeat Prop.37.
So, whether WFM was forced into a corner, or whether they are coming from the right place – this week’s decision is going to be a blessing to us all in the long run.
