Is the FDA Hiding the Ingredients of Your Food?

By on September 20, 2010 in News 42
Guess which one is genetically altered... Source: AquaBounty

Genetically altered salmon. Source: AquaBounty

Not only won’t the FDA require genetically modified food be labeled as such, they’re apparently making it harder for non-GM foods to be labeled as such.  From the Washington Post:

The labeling matter is further complicated because the FDA has maintained a tough stance for food makers who don’t use genetically engineered ingredients and want to promote their products as an alternative. The agency allows manufacturers to label their products as not genetically engineered as long as those labels are accurate and do not imply that the products are therefore more healthful.

The agency warned the dairy industry in 1994 that it could not use “Hormone Free” labeling on milk from cows that are not given engineered hormones, because all milk contains some hormones.

It has sent a flurry of enforcement letters to food makers, including B&G Foods, which was told it could not use the phrase “GMO-free” on its Polaner All Fruit strawberry spread label because GMO refers to genetically modified organisms and strawberries are produce, not organisms.

It told the maker of Spectrum Canola Oil that it could not use a label that included a red circle with a line through it and the words “GMO,” saying the symbol suggested that there was something wrong with genetically engineered food.

Strawberries are not organisms?  These guys decide what’s safe for us to eat?  This is a free market?  Read more here.

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  • Satisfiend

    No, strawberries are not organisms. They do not metabolize waste. They are the fruit product of the plant organism. Good for the FDA for not allowing the spreading of baseless accusations against genetically modified food.

    • Andrew
      • Satisfiend

        nope, still not wrong. Strawberries =/= living thing; strawberry plant = living thing

        • Andrew

          That’s pedantic to the point of being a fallacy of equivocation. By that definition, almost nothing we eat can be considered an organism, including any cut of meat. I call bullshit.

    • MeatBurgler

      Yeah, you are wrong… Did Monsanto pay you for that comment?? Hah, and you act like the fucking FDA isn’t mostly made up of former MAJOR food corporation execs. The USDA and FDA are completely worthless and ineffective because of the hundreds of conflicts of interest involved. Read up on it. I hate completely unfounded comments.

      • Satisfiend

        Plenty of government agencies have former lobbyists, some are corrupt, etc. Simply generalizing about the FDA doesn’t provide any evidence in this specific issue. There is no substantially evidence that genetically modified food isn’t safe.

        • Satisfiend

          ugh; substantial. Sorry, hate typos.

    • Satisfiend

      Also just to get this out of the way; I came here after googling about Christmas with a Capital C because I think it’s a joke and wanted to read an article about it. I found this article and disagreed with it. That’s it. I haven’t the faintest idea who Monsanto is except someone you all don’t like. Some people just disagree without being paid to comment on websites, deal with it. (bwahaha just made another thousand bucks lol jk)

      • MeatBurgler

        Whoops clicked liked on your comment , don’t worry, nobody likes it. Anyways, ALL PLANTS ARE ORGANISMS RETARD. Sorry, tried to be nice…. And by the way, I’m now sure you don’t get paid, who would pay someone that doesn’t know 3rd grade science???? ((EPIC FAIL))

        • Satisfiend

          strawberry =/= strawberry plant; plant = organism, fruit =/= organism. You don’t have to get mean about it. Ask Norman Borlaug about genetically modified foods. Then ask the people that didn’t starve to death because of them.

          • MeatBurgler

            Dude you said plants aren’t organisms. Don’t be all mad you were wrong. And we wouldn’t NEED GMOS if the filthy banks/corporations/un didn’t keep the 3rd world IN the third world. The elite have always offered THEIR solution to the problem THEY created. If you don’t get that, read up on your history, especially on the U.N. Enough foor to feed ALL of humanity could be grown in Africa, yet they starve because of globalist policies. DO YOUR HOMEWORK before you come to conclusions. Please.

          • Andrew

            We don’t need GMOs. Nobody does. I understand there’s already enough food grown for everyone.

          • MeatMonster

            There is enough food! There should be NOBODY starving in this world. Thank the U.N., Trilateral Commission, Council on Foreign Relations, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank. Thank every member of each of these organizations for knowingly creating policies that keep people poor and starving.

  • Satisfiend

    No, strawberries are not organisms. They do not metabolize waste. They are the fruit product of the plant organism. Good for the FDA for not allowing the spreading of baseless accusations against genetically modified food.

  • Tchoutoye

    The corporate whore FDA is playing silly semantic games in order to protect their clients such as Monsanto.

    If strawberries are produce not an organisms, then the label “GMO-free produce” ought to be allowed.

  • Anonymous

    The corporate whore FDA is playing silly semantic games in order to protect their clients such as Monsanto.

    If strawberries are produce not an organisms, then the label “GMO-free produce” ought to be allowed.

  • Andrew
  • MeatBurgler

    Yeah, you are wrong… Did Monsanto pay you for that comment?? Hah, and you act like the fucking FDA isn’t mostly made up of former MAJOR food corporation execs. The USDA and FDA are completely worthless and ineffective because of the hundreds of conflicts of interest involved. Read up on it. I hate completely unfounded comments.

  • oman28

    There are some prime movers in ‘Big Food’ behind the FDA and this disgusting legislation. Say goodbye to two more of your basic rights America. The right to 1) know how your food is produced and 2) choose what you consume. They don’t want you to know and choose

    These quotes are particularly disturbing

    “The biotechnology industry is opposed to mandatory labeling, saying it will only bewilder a public that is not well informed about genetic engineering.

    “Extra labeling only confuses the consumer,” said David Edwards, director of animal biotechnology at the Biotechnology Industry Organization. “It differentiates products that are not different.
    and
    “The FDA maintains it can only require labeling if a genetically engineered food is somehow different from the conventional version”

    The AquAdvantage salmon has been given a gene from the ocean pout, an eel-like fish, and a growth hormone from a Chinook salmon. That makes it just a little bit different to me.

    It’s not about whether or not GMO’s are harmful. And IF they are I personally don’t think we will know this for a couple of generations. They are saying that you are not smart enough to make that decision.

    • MeatBurgler

      True true, we really don’t KNOW if GMOs are harmful to our health (Well, I would bet my life that the pesticide producing GMO seeds are no good). I do KNOW that even if they were detrimental to human health, they would still be rammed down our throats … And I know that most new food products/ingredients ARE horrible for us. It just sucks that were not even allowed to know what were eating or what it does. oman28, I know you’ve seen the so called ” USDA/FDA safety tests” on all this new shit… Basically “We don’t know if its good or bad, just eat it bitch!”

      • Andrew

        My understanding is that some of them can be more difficult to digest and can even damage digestive enzymes. This would be a minor impairment on one’s health in the short term, but in the long term it could be a larger problem. I suspect malnutrition is more likely than cancer.

        The real problem is when GMOs reproduce with normal species, forever polluting their genetic pool, possibly even causing species to go extinct. Anyone with the intelligence to recognize cause and effect can see that’s like a field of dominoes that will eventually have major consequences but which we cannot possibly predict.

  • Anonymous

    There are some prime movers in ‘Big Food’ behind the FDA and this disgusting legislation. Say goodbye to two more of your basic rights America. The right to 1) know how your food is produced and 2) choose what you consume. They don’t want you to know and choose

    These quotes are particularly disturbing

    “The biotechnology industry is opposed to mandatory labeling, saying it will only bewilder a public that is not well informed about genetic engineering.

    “Extra labeling only confuses the consumer,” said David Edwards, director of animal biotechnology at the Biotechnology Industry Organization. “It differentiates products that are not different.
    and
    “The FDA maintains it can only require labeling if a genetically engineered food is somehow different from the conventional version”

    The AquAdvantage salmon has been given a gene from the ocean pout, an eel-like fish, and a growth hormone from a Chinook salmon. That makes it just a little bit different to me.

    It’s not about whether or not GMO’s are harmful. And IF they are I personally don’t think we will know this for a couple of generations. They are saying that you are not smart enough to make that decision.

  • MeatBurgler

    True true, we really don’t KNOW if GMOs are harmful to our health (Well, I would bet my life that the pesticide producing GMO seeds are no good). I do KNOW that even if they were detrimental to human health, they would still be rammed down our throats … And I know that most new food products/ingredients ARE horrible for us. It just sucks that were not even allowed to know what were eating or what it does. oman28, I know you’ve seen the so called ” USDA/FDA safety tests” on all this new shit… Basically “We don’t know if its good or bad, just eat it bitch!”

  • emperorreagan

    By lobbying against allowing truth in labeling, companies that produce GM food products give credence to the notion that their products are unsafe and that there is something to hide.

    It certainly makes me nervous, like somebody is trying to sell me a car but insists I cannot look under the hood before I buy it. Maybe they’re honest, or maybe there’s a major problem they don’t want me to find out about until it’s too late.

  • emperorreagan

    By lobbying against allowing truth in labeling, companies that produce GM food products give credence to the notion that their products are unsafe and that there is something to hide.

    It certainly makes me nervous, like somebody is trying to sell me a car but insists I cannot look under the hood before I buy it. Maybe they’re honest, or maybe there’s a major problem they don’t want me to find out about until it’s too late.

  • MeatBurgler

    By the looks of these comments, we all (besides the monsanto lacky) agree that we should at least be informed about the contents/possible effects of GMOs BEFORE we eat them on a daily basis… This proves to me (what I already know) that the major food corporations just plain don’t give a fuck what anybody thinks, says or does because we starve without them and their garbage. You have to be pretty well off to eat all natural food these days.

  • MeatBurgler

    By the looks of these comments, we all (besides the monsanto lacky) agree that we should at least be informed about the contents/possible effects of GMOs BEFORE we eat them on a daily basis… This proves to me (what I already know) that the major food corporations just plain don’t give a fuck what anybody thinks, says or does because we starve without them and their garbage. You have to be pretty well off to eat all natural food these days.

  • Andrew

    My understanding is that some of them can be more difficult to digest and can even damage digestive enzymes. This would be a minor impairment on one’s health in the short term, but in the long term it could be a larger problem. I suspect malnutrition is more likely than cancer.

    The real problem is when GMOs reproduce with normal species, forever polluting their genetic pool, possibly even causing species to go extinct. Anyone with the intelligence to recognize cause and effect can see that’s like a field of dominoes that will eventually have major consequences but which we cannot possibly predict.

  • Tchoutoye

    A survey of government scientists and inspectors found more than 38 percent of those respondents said “public health has been harmed by agency practices that defer to business interests” at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Agriculture Department.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68C39320100913

  • Anonymous

    A survey of government scientists and inspectors found more than 38 percent of those respondents said “public health has been harmed by agency practices that defer to business interests” at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Agriculture Department.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68C39320100913

  • Satisfiend

    nope, still not wrong. Strawberries =/= living thing; strawberry plant = living thing

  • Satisfiend

    Plenty of government agencies have former lobbyists, some are corrupt, etc. Simply generalizing about the FDA doesn’t provide any evidence in this specific issue. There is no substantially evidence that genetically modified food isn’t safe.

  • Satisfiend

    Also just to get this out of the way; I came here after googling about Christmas with a Capital C because I think it’s a joke and wanted to read an article about it. I found this article and disagreed with it. That’s it. I haven’t the faintest idea who Monsanto is except someone you all don’t like. Some people just disagree without being paid to comment on websites, deal with it. (bwahaha just made another thousand bucks lol jk)

  • Satisfiend

    ugh; substantial. Sorry, hate typos.

  • MeatBurgler

    Whoops clicked liked on your comment , don’t worry, nobody likes it. Anyways, ALL PLANTS ARE ORGANISMS RETARD. Sorry, tried to be nice…. And by the way, I’m now sure you don’t get paid, who would pay someone that doesn’t know 3rd grade science???? ((EPIC FAIL))

  • Satisfiend

    strawberry =/= strawberry plant; plant = organism, fruit =/= organism. You don’t have to get mean about it. Ask Norman Borlaug about genetically modified foods. Then ask the people that didn’t starve to death because of them.

  • MeatBurgler

    Dude you said plants aren’t organisms. Don’t be all mad you were wrong. And we wouldn’t NEED GMOS if the filthy banks/corporations/un didn’t keep the 3rd world IN the third world. The elite have always offered THEIR solution to the problem THEY created. If you don’t get that, read up on your history, especially on the U.N. Enough foor to feed ALL of humanity could be grown in Africa, yet they starve because of globalist policies. DO YOUR HOMEWORK before you come to conclusions. Please.

  • Andrew

    That’s pedantic to the point of being a fallacy of equivocation. By that definition, almost nothing we eat can be considered an organism, including any cut of meat. I call bullshit.

  • Andrew

    We don’t need GMOs. Nobody does. I understand there’s already enough food grown for everyone.

  • MeatMonster

    There is enough food! There should be NOBODY starving in this world. Thank the U.N., Trilateral Commission, Council on Foreign Relations, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank. Thank every member of each of these organizations for knowingly creating policies that keep people poor and starving.

  • IqWit

    GMOs are nasty…In fact Craig Jackson/ UC Santa Cruz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihydrogen_monoxide found a majority of people in the US will tell you “chemical free” food is better for human health, and that a ban on all food products containing Dihydrogen monoxide= DHMO. is critical. DHMO is now even showing up in the eyes and tears of new born babies !.. On the other hand, for those of you with an IQ over body temp..when a strain of parasite that thrives on the GMO splice invades the new improved seed lines and wipes out all the soybeans, wheat and corn in the new world, then be happy because, we wont have to worry about over population in the 3rd world.

  • IqWit

    GMOs are nasty…In fact Craig Jackson/ UC Santa Cruz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihydrogen_monoxide found a majority of people in the US will tell you “chemical free” food is better for human health, and that a ban on all food products containing Dihydrogen monoxide= DHMO. is critical. DHMO is now even showing up in the eyes and tears of new born babies !.. On the other hand, for those of you with an IQ over body temp..when a strain of parasite that thrives on the GMO splice invades the new improved seed lines and wipes out all the soybeans, wheat and corn in the new world, then be happy because, we wont have to worry about over population in the 3rd world.