Phone App Will Offer Consumers GMO Info

Consumers' heightened interest in what goes into their food is driving a group of big food makers and other consumer- goods companies to introduce a smartphone app that scans products in stores, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. The app will allow shoppers to go beyond the label in understanding what's in the food.

The SmartLabel app was announced last week by the Grocery Manufacturers Association. So far, it includes more than 30 companies, including General Mills Inc., Hershey Co., and PepsiCo Inc. The association said in the Journal that companies are expected to use the technology on 30,000 products by the end of 2017.

Hershey said the app provides the chance to explain what the emulsifier soy lecithin is, for example, and why it’s used.

SmartLabel also will address the use of ingredients made from genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. It will allow but not require companies to reveal GMO ingredients.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association estimated that by the end of 2017, companies will disclose information on GMOs for some 20,000 products through the technology.

The Center for Food Safety, an environmental-and-health nonprofit organization, said conveying information using a smartphone app is insufficient, because some shoppers can’t afford smartphones with data packages to read the codes. It said the system discriminates against the poor, minorities, rural populations and the elderly.

Others applauded the move. “I’d say this is a positive step,” said Gregory Jaffe, biotechnology project director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group focused on food safety and nutrition. “Any time the consumer is getting more information about their food and what goes into it, it is a good thing.” S