Breaking away from its peers in the food industry, the Campbell Soup Company says it fully supports federal legislation that would establish a single mandatory labeling standard for foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Though the company still opposes multiple state laws that would create a patchwork of varying standards, Campbell says it believes its necessary the federal government step in to develop a national standard that that better informs consumers. Because of this decision, Campbell says it is distancing itself from all efforts led by groups and coalitions that oppose these measures.
But the company says it doesn’t need to wait for legislators to pass a federal standard. If a federal solution cannot be established in a reasonable amount of time, Campbell says it is prepared to disclose the presence of GMOs on the labels of all of its US products that contain them—making it the first major food company to take this step and respond to growing consumer calls for transparency.
The company says this decision does not dispute the science behind GMOs and Campbell continues to recognize that GMOs are safe, as the science indicates that foods derived from crops grown using genetically modified seeds are not nutritionally different from other foods.