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A theme of nondisclosure
The number of ingredients, processes and modifications not disclosed on food labels is long and growing.
Just in the past year, the FDA has determined that meat from cloned animals can be allowed in the human food supply without disclosure.
And the agency also recently announced that manufacturers of deli meats are free to spray ham, bologna, salami and the like with a mix of six genetically modified viruses to combat potential contamination with Listeria, a bacteria that makes deli meats one of the top contributors to food-borne illnesses in the United States.
Consumer groups have criticized the USDA for years for failing to get meat processors to clean up the plants so that Listeria and other microorganisms couldn't find a hospitable home in foods commonly served to children without further cooking. Instead the FDA decided to let the companies spray the meats with viruses engineered to consume the potentially harmful bacteria.
"Who knows what these things do?" asks Sally Fallon, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, which helps people return to traditional and whole food diets. "They could be toxic in their own right, and it's no substitute for cleaning up their act."
Also in the meat case, the federal government has declined to intervene in the now-widespread practice of "modified atmospheric packaging," whereby "fresh" meat is preserved with carbon monoxide and other gases. Meats packaged in polystyrene trays with plastic wrap have a shelf life of less than a week, but gas packing allows beef to stay bright red for weeks or even months. Trouble is, the meat may look fresh without actually being fresh. Last year Consumer Reports found that three out of 10 gas-packed ground beef samples had spoiled by their use-by date, even though the meat still appeared red.
There are no disclosure requirements for the use of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxygen and nitrogen to preserve the appearance of meat, however, consumers can tell whether their beef, poultry or pork was packaged that way by a taut plastic seal not touching the meat.
Invisible GMOs
Foods produced using genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have never required labeling, even though studies in animals have shown them to cause tissue damage, kidney and liver toxicity, sterility, neurotoxicity, aggression and early death. Little to no research on their long-term safety in humans has been conducted. Genetically modified strains now comprise the majority of the corn and soy grown in the United States.
The FDA is also considering a rule that would allow manufacturers to irradiate food as a way to remove pathogens and call the process "cold pasteurization" or "electronic pasteurization." There would be no indication to consumers that the product was subjected to ionizing radiation.
"What the industry has found is that requiring labeling of irradiation means that stores don't want to sell it," Cummins says. "Cold pasteurization sounds fairly natural compared to irradiation."
According to Cummins, the issues of genetically modified foods and irradiation are inextricably linked from a regulatory perspective. In 1986, when the FDA proposed regulations to allow irradiation and decided to require labeling, scientists at the agency acknowledged that benzene, formaldehyde and other unique radiolytic compounds produced by irradiation had never before been seen in food.
"There is plenty of evidence out there that irradiation changes food in an alarming way, and the reason the FDA was caused to require labeling in the first place was because it changes the nature of the food," Cummins explained, citing a study done by the Council of Medical Research in India, which showed children fed irradiated wheat for six weeks had chromosomal damage not exhibited in control groups.
Six years later, when it came time to determine whether genetically modified foods would have to be labeled as such, the agency "made the stunning scientific pronouncement that they were substantially equivalent, which they were not able to uphold with irradiated food." The determination meant that labeling would not be required.
"When the scientists said there were substantial changes in the foods, they had to follow the statute," which requires disclosure for foods that meet that criteria, Cummins said. "Then a few years later they realized that we better not do that again. They don't have a leg to stand on scientifically, but they have just used the power of the FDA and corporate America to not label GMOs."
This story originally appeared in The Independent Weekly.
