The Real Americone Dream? Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Out GMOs for Good
Ben & Jerry’s, the popular ice cream maker from Vermont, has announced that GMOs will be removed from all of the company’s products by the year’s end. Currently, 80 percent of Ben & Jerry’s offerings are already GMO-free.
“Now, we aren’t scientists, we make ice cream, but we do know there are questions about whether GMO technology is truly living up to its promise of making bigger and better food, or whether it’s just simply another way to further industrialize and consolidate our food and agriculture system. Because Ben & Jerry’s has a long history of supporting family owned farms, we’re concerned that increasing GMO crops comes at the expense of smaller farms, which we believe is a more sustainable kind of farming,” the company said in a statement.
Because of the number of ingredients that go into making Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavors, the transition may be a challenge, says the company, but they’re committed to making the shift, “We support those calling for transparency and a consumer’s right to know and support the push for mandatory labeling. We ought to all have freedom to choose whether or not we want to eat food that has been genetically engineered. We think this is a fundamental right.”
Ben & Jerry’s was one of the first brands of dairy products to take a stand against rBGH—a genetically modified and highly controversial growth hormone used in dairy cows. The company is also a supporter of the Just Label It campaign for federal labeling laws of foods containing genetically modified ingredients.
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Image: Ben & Jerry’s
