HerbalEGram: Volume 10, Number 4, April 2013

On March 8, 2013, Whole Foods Market announced a new GMO-labeling standard that will require all food products containing GMOs (genetically modified organisms) to be labeled as such by 2018 in order to remain on its stores’ shelves.¹ This major decision comes less than six months after California’s Proposition 37, which would have made GMO-labeling mandatory throughout the state, failed to pass in the November election. A major retailer with 339 stores in the United States and Canada, Whole Foods Market can affect change in product labeling on a national level through the establishment of a new quality standard, much as it did in 2010 by instituting an organic labeling standard for personal care products.^1,2

According to The Non-GMO Project — a nonprofit organization officially launched in 2007 that provides GMO education and certifies non-GMO products — “as much as 80% of conventional processed food” contains GMOs, 92% of Americans want GMO labeling, and 23 states are “working on mandatory labeling.”³

Whole Foods Market’s Global Vice President of Quality Standards and Public Affairs and American Botanical Council Board of Trustees member Margaret Wittenberg, said that the GMO-labeling standard for food will apply to “conventional” foods as well as dietary supplements. “The announcement is all-encompassing,” said Wittenberg (email, March 28, 2013). “We will work with our supplier partners in every department, including supplements, to label products if they contain GMO ingredients by 2018.”

Genetically modified ingredients are used in some dietary supplements. The United States’ supply of soy (Glycine max), a top-selling single-herb supplement and supplement ingredient, is commonly genetically modified to be invulnerable to herbicides.^4,5 Crops of another top-selling single-herb supplement ingredient, alfalfa (Medicago sativa), also are commonly GMO.^4,5 According to The Non-GMO Project’s website, ingredients that could be “hidden” GMOs include the following:

• Amino Acids
• Aspartame
• Ascorbic Acid
• Sodium Ascorbate
• Vitamin C
• Citric Acid
• Sodium Citrate
• Flavorings (‘natural’ and ‘artificial’)
• High Fructose Corn Syrup
• Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein
• Lactic Acid
• Maltodextrins
• Molasses
• Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
• Sucrose
• Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)
• Xanthan Gum
• Vitamins
• Yeast Products.”⁴

Additionally, dietary supplements containing live microbials can contain genetically modified bacterial strains,⁶ and the amino acid l-theanine, for example, can be synthesized via genetically engineered Escherichia coli (oral communication, D. Armstrong, February 15, 2013).

Dietary supplements whose labels feature the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) certified organic seal are intended to be (and commonly are understood to be) free from GMOs; however, because third-party certifiers may interpret regulations inconsistently, it is possible for varying levels of genetically modified ingredients to make it into USDA-certified organic foods.⁷

Some supplement companies already are going the extra mile to ensure their products are free from GMOs. New Chapter, Inc. — a manufacturer of herbal, vitamin, and mineral dietary supplements — has received Non-GMO Project certification on more than 85 percent of its products, according to the company website, and it aims to boost that number to 100 percent.⁸ Additional reputable supplement companies, including Gaia Herbs and NOW Foods, among others, have non-GMO policies in place.^9,10

In the European Union, labeling of genetically modified food (specifically, food with more than 0.9% GMOs) is required.⁷ Although the US Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization consider genetically modified food to be safe, recent studies have found traces of GMO-produced insecticide Cry1Ab in fetal blood, GMO-linked liver and kidney problems in rats, and slower rates of growth coupled with higher death and infertility rates in GMO-fed hamsters.¹¹