Food Disclosure
Food Safety and the Importance of Disclosure
High-profile food safety incidents are creating considerable concern among consumers that neither manufacturers nor government are doing a good job of ensuring the safety of what we eat. In 2010, millions of eggs were recalled in the U.S. due to thousands becoming sick from Salmonella. Two of the country’s largest egg producers, Wright County and Hillandale Farms failed to follow basic hazard control practices, and contaminated eggs ended up in supermarkets across the United States. For over six months in 2008-2009, the U.S. experienced a multi-state Salmonella outbreak caused by contaminated peanut products. In 2008, the adulteration of Chinese powdered milk products with melamine killed and sickened infants and lead to worldwide press coverage that emphasized that government’s lax food safety controls.
Contamination incidents that lead to outbreaks of illnesses are the most visible aspect of a larger challenge – our food production system is now extremely complex: supply chains have become global, foods and food packaging combine materials from multiple sources, and food is produced using industrial methods that may involve the addition of chemical additives, genetic engineering, etc.
What You Should Know About Food Products But Don’t
Consumers want better information on where food products come from, how they are produced, and what they contain. But the food marketplace remains far from transparent, although there are some promising signs. Here are quick summaries of the top food issues that GoodGuide is monitoring (and including in its food ratings whenever sufficient data are available):
1. Are there hazardous contaminants in my food?
The hot issue of 2010 is whether or not a food product contains Bisphenol-A, a chemical of health concern because it disrupts the endocrine system and is found in the bodies of most Americans. Chemical components of food containers can migrate from can linings or plastic containers into food. The Food and Drug Administration, which reviews and approves chemicals that may be indirectly added to foods by virtue of their use in food containers, takes the position that any migration involves only trace amounts of substances they “generally regard as safe” and that there is no evidence indicating significant toxic exposures or health risks. Some consumer activists are concerned that FDA is not the world’s strictest regulator and may not be conducting sufficiently rigorous reviews.
Unfortunately, getting information on whether a specific packaged food product contains an ingredient of concern like BPA is quite difficult. Some manufacturers of plastic products sold directly to consumers do a good job of disclosing which contain/don’t contain BPA, but you almost never find this level of detail about actual packaged food products. A recent report by the National Workgroup for Safe Markets tested the food and beverage content of 50 brand name canned products and found BPA in over 90% of the sampled soups, vegetables, fruits and sodas. The Workgroup estimated that diets including these products could result in BPA exposures comparable to those that are known to cause health problems in laboratory animals.
GoodGuide understands that consumers prefer to err on the side of safety and want to purchase BPA-free products. Unfortunately, few manufacturers disclose the BPA content of their products, or even whether they utilize food packaging that could be a source of BPA. There is no national testing program for BPA in the processed foods currently on the US market. To address this data gap, GoodGuide is working on a company-level filter to help consumers identify “BPA-free” producers. Some manufacturers have already moved to BPA-free cans for some of their products ( e.g., Eden Organic beans), but few have eliminated BPA from every type of processed food they make. Our filter will be designed to reward companies that commit to eliminating BPA and offer at least some BPA-free products to consumers. As we have found with other issues like ingredient disclosure, GoodGuide ratings can be used to spotlight and reward the best performers, creating a market incentive for other manufacturers to compete on being BPA-free.
2. Were controversial technologies used to make this food?
The increasing use of genetic engineering in the food production process regularly raises concerns among US consumers. The hot issue in 2010 is whether the FDA should allow the first genetically modified animal (the AquAdvantage® Salmon) to be marketed for human consumption. Earlier debates have focused on the use of recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) in dairy products and the modification of food crops to be resistant to herbicides or exhibit other desirable characteristics. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 90% or more of soy, cotton, corn and canola crops in the U.S. are now genetically modified. As a result, it is estimated that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are now present in more than 80% of packaged products in the average American grocery store.
Polls consistently show that the majority of consumers would like to be able to tell if the food they are purchasing contains GMOs. Consumers are concerned about the impact that genetically engineered products can have on the environment, by controversies over the safety of GMO products, and by a widespread belief that US regulatory review of this technology is overly deferential to the commercial interests of firms promoting genetic engineering.
U.S. food manufacturers are not required to disclose whether their products contain genetically engineered components, and are also prohibited by the FDA from labeling their products as “GMO-free”, “rBGH-free”, etc. This makes it very difficult for a consumer information service like GoodGuide to easily identify whether a product has been genetically modified.
GoodGuide does track whether products are made by companies that publicly state their food products do not contain GMOs (based on survey results compiled by The True Food Network, a project of the Center for Food Safety). Products made by such companies get an increased health score, equivalent to that associated with being certified organic by the USDA (organic certification also precludes use of genetically engineered components). We are planning to integrate the results of new certification systems like the Non-GMO Project into our ratings as they become available, as that group verifies that specific products are GMO-free.
In the meantime, users have access to filters that select products from companies pledging that they are GMO-free. For examples, see our list of GMO-free breakfast cereals or our list of rBGH-free milk.
3. Where does this food come from?
Information about food origin is a recurring hot topic and is relevant to shoppers for a variety of reasons. From a health perspective, the effectiveness of food safety rules depends on the stringency and enforcement efforts of various national regulatory agencies. The FDA and USDA have both been subject to their fair share of criticism, but there are much more significant regulatory gaps in countries like China. From an environmental perspective, longer supply chains typically have higher adverse environmental impacts because of the energy required to transport products.
It is sometimes possible to learn if a food product is imported from overseas or produced domestically in the U.S. The USDA implemented Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) requirements in 2009 — you are most likely to see such labels on meats, wild or farm-raised fish and shellfish, and fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, the rules don’t apply to processed foods or products with more than one ingredient. Approximately 80% of our seafood, 90% of lamb, 30% of fresh fruits and nuts, and 13% of vegetables are imported from elsewhere in the world. The top 10 countries exporting food and beverages to the U.S. include: Canada, Mexico, China, Brazil, Australia, Indonesia, Chile, New Zealand, Colombia and the European Union. China is now our number one country for importing prepared/preserved fruits, number two for prepared/preserved vegetables, and number four for fresh or frozen vegetables. China also is the number one producer of farmed fish and shellfish in the world, and the number one supplier of apple juice.
If you want to support local, sustainably produced food because of its environmental benefits, getting information on where a product is actually grown in the U.S. is typically impossible. Such location data are rarely included on product labels, and can generally only be obtained by shopping at farmer’s markets, participating in community supported agriculture or patronizing a food distributor that markets locally produced products. One very positive sign is that new tracking technologies now enable manufacturers to offer full traceability. About 100 brands in the US are using HarvestMark codes on their products — consumers using the services website or iPhone app can instantly find out where the produce originated, when it was harvested, and if there have been any product recalls.
