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Officials at Wegmans food markets want to see a required FDA approval for GMO foods, and labelling for foods that are non-GMO.
(Gary Walts / The Post-Standard)
Few topics spark such intense debate as the one over genetically modified, or GMO, foods.
There are people who think GMO represents the bright future of agriculture, allowing farmers to produce more food at lower prices to feed the globe. There are other people who fear the genetic tinkering has untold potential to be damaging, disruptive and dangerous.
Now, Wegmans is weighing in: The Rochester-based supermarket chain wants to see the federal Food & Drug Adminstration adopt a mandatory approval process for new GMO foods, and it wants to see label requirements for non-GMO foods.
"What we're really after is giving our customers to ability to make informed choices," said Jane Andrews, Wegmans nutrition and product labeling manager.
Wegmans has been researching and debating the topic internally for years, but its views became the subject of renewed debate last week when Mary Ellen Burris, the chain's vice president of consumer affairs, addressed it in her weekly blog.. Predictably, it touched off a debate.
Genetically modified, or genetically engineered foods are more common than some people think, said Andrews, a registered dietician. One estimate is that 80 percent of American farmland is planted with GMO crops. It's more common with foods like corn and soybeans -- also used as ingredients in many processed products - than with produce.
In commodities like sugar and oils, Andrews said, the presence of GMOs is "pervasive."
Wegmans, Andrews said, stands by the safety of its products, and believes current scientific protocols used to vet GMO products are adequate. But, she notes, the FDA is not currently required to give pre-market approval to new GMO products, and more producers from around the world are making GMO products all the time.
"We'd like an active approval process -- now it's a consultative, voluntary process," Andrews said. "We agree that's what's out there now is safe, but we are concerned about what might happen in the future."
For now, the best way for customers who want to avoid GMO food is to choose items with a USDA Certified Organic label, which prohibits genetic modification. But those foods can be expensive -- meeting the requirements to not use pesticides, for example, can raise labor costs.
(There are also online resources, like the Non-GMO Project, which can guide customers to which foods are not genetically engineered).
The added cost and sometimes limited availability of certified organic organic food are reasons that Wegman supports a non-GMO label, Andrews said. The chain, which has stores in 6 states, also wants that to be a national standard to avoid confusion over differing interpretations of what GMO means.
"(Non-GMO) might not be quite as expensive as certified organic, but would satisfy the consumer who doesn't want the GMO in a conventional product," Andrews said. Still, she said, meeting standards for non-GMO, even if they aren't defined yet, would have a cost.
"The bottom line," Andrews said, "is we're looking for more information that can help those consumers who are concerned make choices."