Down to Earth to label GMO food by 2018

Star Advertiser
Staff

Hawaii's largest locally founded natural-food retailer, Down to Earth Organic & Natural, is joining its bigger rival Whole Foods Market in setting a 2018 deadline for labeling genetically engineered products sold in its stores.

Down to Earth announced its move Monday, saying that the similar decision announced Friday by Whole Foods, the nation's largest natural foods retailer, is a "game changer" for the natural-products industry and consumers.

"Acting together, we can implement labeling without having to wait for government," Mark Fergusson, Down to Earth's chief executive, said in a statement.

The local vegetarian food retailer with four stores on Oahu and one on Maui said any product it carries containing genetically modified organisms or ingredients must be labeled as such by 2018.

Down to Earth has a long-term goal of selling 100 percent organic and GMO-free products. Presently the company gives preference to products verified by the nonprofit Non-GMO Project or certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and does not sell whole GMO foods, including Rainbow papaya.