Greenpeace Shoppers Guide
by author Rob Klettke

If you are concerned about the possible use of GM (genetically modified) ingredients in your favourite products, check out an online resource to help you write your shopping list.

At gmoguide.greenpeace.ca, there are three ways to check on the status of the food products in your local grocery store: by ingredient, by product, and by company.

Look for These Ingredients

Greenpeace advises that, at the very least, we check food labels for the following ingredients, which could be genetically modified:

• products made with corn, soy, cotton, or canola
• processed foods containing corn oil, corn syrup, and corn starch; soy protein, soy oil, soy lecithin and soy sauce; and cottonseed or canola oil

Look for These Products

There are two ways to find out if a product may contain GM ingredients using the online guide. Either click on "Search the Guide" and then enter a product name or a genetically engineered (GE) status category to search. Or click on "Browse the Guide" to search for specific products. The Greenpeace Shoppers Guide lists foods by category and divides the products into three separate status categories:

• Category 1, the green list, contains products that are not made with any GE or GE-derived ingredients.
• Category 2, the yellow list, contains products that are made by companies that are committed to removing all GE or GE-derived ingredients from their products.
• Category 3, the red list, contains products that likely contain GE or GE-derived ingredients.

Look for These Companies

There are two ways to find out if a company's products may contain GM ingredients. Either click on "Search the Guide" and then enter a manufacturer's name to see the status of that manufacturer's products. Or click on the words "those which are not" to see a list of manufacturers that use at least one genetically modified ingredient. This list contains some big names, some surprises, and some serious disappointments, and includes:

• Betty Crocker
• Cadbury Schweppes
• Campbell Soup Co.
• Canada Safeway Ltd.
• Catelli
• Coca Cola Ltd.
• Colgate Palmolive
• Crisco
• Dare Foods Ltd.
• Duncan Hines
• Enfalac
• Flowers Industries Inc.
• Gatorade
• General Mills Canada Ltd.
• Haagen-Dazs
• Heinz Foods
• Hershey Foods Corp.
• Jiffy Pop
• Kellogg's
• Kikkoman Foods
• Labatt Breweries Ontario
• Lean Cuisine
• Lucerne Foods Ltd.
• Maple Leaf Consumer Foods Ltd.
• Molson
• Natural Touch
• Nestl
• North American Tea and Coffee Inc.
• Ocean Spray
• Old Dutch
• Orville Redenbacher
• PepsiCo
• Pillsbury
• Quaker Oats Co.
• Similac
• Sleeman
• Stouffer's
• Tropicana
• Unilever
• Voortman Cookies
• Weetabix
• Wesson
• Western Family Foods
• Wheaties

Greenpeace warns that their lists are not exhaustive, and they were compiled after speaking directly to the food producers.

Rather than just avoiding genetically modified products, why not get involved with changing these companies' practices? Find the links to these companies on the online Shoppers Guide and let them know that you won't buy genetically modified food.

Rob Klettke is a Vancouver-area writer/editor who now doesnt know what to eat when he goes to the movies.

Source: alive Web Exclusive, June 2008