Kraft Foods Draws Consumer Ire For Its Use of Modified Ingredients

By Shelly Branch

The Wall Street Journal

February 6, 2002

Kraft Foods Inc. is being targeted by Genetically Engineered Food Alert, a coalition of consumer groups that has lobbied various food companies to remove genetically modified ingredients from their products.

The coalition said it commissioned an independent lab to examine a range of Kraft products, and that several -- including Boca Burgers, Post Blueberry Morning cereal, and Stove Top Stuffing -- contain genetically engineered corn and soy.

Starting Wednesday, the coalition says it will ask supporters in 170 cities in the U.S., Canada and Australia to distribute leaflets and petitions. The coalition wants to draw attention to what it calls "the public-health and environmental concerns" associated with genetically modified foods.

"This is a grass-roots effort to inform the public that they are consuming genetically engineered foods and to also demand that Kraft remove these ingredients," said Matt Rand, spokesman for coalition member National Environmental Trust. Other member groups include Center for Food Safety and Friends of the Earth.

"There is a strong consensus among international governments, scientists and medical experts on the safety of [genetically modified organisms] and we have strong confidence in the process by which the consensus has been reached," said a spokesman for Kraft, which is a division of Philip Morris Cos.

In July 2000, the coalition similarly called upon Campbell Soup Co. to remove genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, from its soup products, to no avail. The group had much greater impact in December 2000, when it found that a brand of Kraft taco shells contained a genetically engineered corn that wasn't approved by the FDA for human consumption. Kraft subsequently recalled the affected product.

In Europe, the safety and labeling of GMOs has long fueled debate. Some companies have bowed to public pressure and removed GMO ingredients from their products.

Currently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration permits the use of specified genetically modified organisms. Such foods are increasingly common on the nation's grocery shelves. The FDA doesn't require that foods be labeled as containing GMOs.

In the U.S., criticism of GMOs has so far been guarded. "We have concerns about the way these crops are being evolved, and think the regulations at the FDA need significant strengthening," said Doug Gurian-Sherman, co-director of the biotechnology project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington, D.C., consumer research and advocacy group. "But there is currently no evidence we can see that the foods are unsafe or have a negative environmental impact."