Groups Advocating Genetic Source Labels For Food

Last December, Whole Foods Market, the largest natural foods supermarket chain in the country, sent letters to more than 400 of its suppliers, asking if their products contained genetically engineered ingredients.

About three-quarters of the suppliers have not yet responded.

“Most of them don’t know about their ingredients and are scrambling to find out,” said Margaret Wittenburg, quality assurance director for Whole Foods.

Most Americans are in the dark, too. They have no idea what foods on their supermarket shelves contain genetically engineered ingredients because the government does not require those products to be labeled. A small but growing group of people is pushing for that to change.

Genetically engineered food is created by taking the DNA from one organism and inserting it into another; the process passes on certain characteristics to plants and animals. The resulting organism is called “transgenic.” This modification of gene material is not possible with traditional selective breeding.

No tests have been conducted to determine the impact of transgenic food on the human diet. At least one study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, however, has shown that some genetically engineered food has the potential to cause allergic reactions.

Producers are turning to genetic engineering for a more abundant, less expensive and more nutritious food supply. Biotechnology companies like Monsanto and Novartis produce genetically engineered soybeans, tomatoes, squash and corn.

More soybeans are genetically engineered than any other food; 13 percent to 16 percent of the country’s soybean crop is being grown from genetically engineered seeds. Between 60 and 70 percent of processed food contains soy, but there is no way to know, without testing, how much of that is genetically engineered. About 2 percent of the corn crop is genetically engineered.

We asked Genetic ID, an Iowa company that tests food for genetically engineered ingredients, to test four soy-based baby formulas and eight other products made with soy or corn.

The formulas - Carnation Alsoy, Similac Neocare, Isomil and Enfamil Prosobee - all tested positive. Eden Soy milk tested negative.

Morningstar Farms Breakfast Links and Morningstar Farms Better ‘n Burgers, Betty Crocker Bac-os Bacon Bits, all soy-based products, also tested positive. And so did three corn-based chips - Fritos, Tostitos Crispy Rounds and Doritos Nacho Cheesier.

It’s not that Americans are ignorant of genetic engineering - almost everyone is aware of Dolly, the sheep that was cloned. And many people have raised objections to milk from cows that have been given the genetically engineered bovine growth hormone to increase milk output.

In a survey announced this year by Novartis, 93 percent of respondents agreed that labeling is needed. At the same time, 21 percent said transgenic food is very safe, and 50 percent said it is somewhat safe.

So far, small groups of consumer advocates are raising health and environmental concerns about genetically engineered products. Those consumers pushed Whole Foods to get answers from their suppliers. The company is also urging customers to write to the Food and Drug Administration demanding labeling.

Transgenic food is not tightly regulated because the FDA says it is safe. Companies must get federal approval to market a genetically engineered product only if the food contains a known toxic substance, nutrients that are different from the original food, any new substances or a known food allergen, or if it uses antibiotic-resistant genes.

Labeling is required only if a transgenic food carries a known food allergen. For those with unusual allergies, like one to bananas, there is no way to know what foods to avoid.