Bioengineered! Should I Be Worried?

By: Daniel Laudon

Just recently, many of the Natures Warehouse family have been hearing reports and have been noticing on labels a note that says “Ingredients Derived From A Bioengineered Source”, or similar wording, being stamped on the side of many of our normal products in the grocery store. Normal foods that people use everyday such as Hellmann’s mayonnaise and Nestle's coffee creamer.

This has obviously raised red flags, as we care and pay attention to not only ingredients but also what people are saying about them. I had to do some research, reaching out and asking “What’s going on?” What ingredients are they adding to our foods now? The answer is the ingredients have not changed, just the labeling. This is the same product and the same ingredients you were using before with a new stamp on it.

What I found was a new law went into effect on January 1rst 2022 that is requiring many companies using GMOs to mark their products as Bio-engineered. At first I thought this was a big win for keeping food in America safe until I dug deeper and found out this was following a law passed by congress in 2016 requiring the labeling but it had taken all this time to hit the shelves. The part that is upsetting is the timing coincides with the roll out of some new genetic altering going on and it is all being put under the same label.This ties into the information I recently wrote about where they are engineering vaccines into foods and using mRNA vaccines on cattle now.

This is an insert from a paper an organization fighting GMOs in foods wrote about it:

“The BE labeling law allows several options for how the Bioengineered disclosure appears on packaging. Brands might display the BE symbol or include a line of text. They might opt for a digital code or a contact phone number that would provide the inquisitive shopper with more information. These options offer flexibility to the manufacturer, but they also make information less accessible to people in stores. Electronic disclosures exclude people who face barriers to technological access, such as residents of rural areas or people who come from a low-income background. Anyone who isn’t comfortable with pocket-sized tech or who is shopping with small children could also be impacted.”

To put this in everyday terms, companies are required to put a notice on the bottle but there is no consistency to how it has be noted. So, it may show up using different verbage or possibly even small logos or barcodes.

One caution I may add is that it seems the irregularity of some companies not having the label printed ties into the lack of enforcing the laws that were passed. While I do believe eventually all companies will have some type of labeling there is no deadline that I can find or fines for not following through. Once again, the only way to be certain you’re not eating bio-engineered ingredients is to only eat organic foods and remember your food is only as honest as the people that handle it.

Reference:

https://www.nongmoproject.org/blog/what-you-need-to-know-about-bioengineered-be-food-labeling/ 

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