How Food Labeling Has Failed Us!

Food labeling is supposed to give the consumer information about what they are eating.  But what you probably don’t know is how much MSG and genetically modified food you are really eating because of the labeling loopholes!

Produce has the easiest labeling system but you may not be aware of it because NOBODY is telling you about it!  Here is the breakdown;

There is a small oval sticker on your fruits and vegetables.  Each type of produce has its own number and they have either 4 or 5 digits.  For example,

4139 or 3139 indicates that this fruit that has been grown with the use of pesticides or fungicides.

94139 is a 5 digit number that indicates it has been grown organically. Any fruit or           

           vegetable that starts with 9 means it is organic.

84139 indicates it has been grown from genetically modified seeds. Any fruit or              

                 vegetable that starts with 8 means it is genetically modified or GMO for short.

Processed food is where it gets very tricky.  The major GMO crops are corn and soy beans but there are other crops out there like tomatoes, beets and rice.  As far as corn or soy beans, more than 60% of these crops world wide are genetically modified.  Unless the label on your box says GMO free, how do you know if you are eating it?  Well you don’t!

Corn and soy are so wide spread in our foods that it is difficult to get away from it.  For example, anything derived from corn such as corn starch, corn oil, high fructose corn syrup, corn meal, corn gluten, dextrose, maltodextrin, are all potentially genetically modified. 

Same with soy products such as soy flour, soy milk, soy oil, soy lecithin, soy curd (tofu), miso, soy sauce, tempeh, soy protein and again, you don’t know which of the processed foods are made with genetically modified soy.

Just to let you know how insidious this is, here is an example of how something is genetically modified.  You can take 2 different types of tomato and create a new type of tomato.  This is the usual way and that is fine.  But what happens if you insert say, a fish gene into a tomato.  Sound far fetched?   Believe it!  This is the type of thing that is going on.  You now have a tomato that has some new DNA attached to it.  What if you were allergic to a certain type of fish?  You just ate a tomato!  How can you monitor what to eat and what not to? 

Bottom line is, we have the god given right to feed our families wholesome foods and we need to put the pressure on the powers that be to at least give us the choice. Right now we do not have a choice because labeling does not tell us if it is a GMO product!

 I'd love to hear your opinion about this!

-Willie Jones

About the Author

Willie is a researcher and freelance writer whose own health problems prompted her to gain information on health and wellness and share that knowledge with others. She is co-owner of http://www.cleanbodydetox.com a site that focuses on detox through ionic foot baths, and natural health.