Hey, Big Food: Join Consumers in Rejecting GE Alfalfa

Genetically engineered (GE) foods have been cropping up like, well, crops. In addition to genetically modified (GM) soy, corn, cotton, and and canola, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently deregulated Monsanto's GE alfalfa and sugar beets. Transgenic salmon and pigs also loom on the horizon, and who knows what kind of weird science will try to invade our dinner tables after that?

So now that the USDA has blatantly disregarded the health of the environment, the organic industry, and consumers by deregulating GE crops like alfalfa, what do we do now? That's where the Institute for Responsible Technology comes in.

The non-profit recently launched its "Alfalfa Plan B" campaign. Because the USDA has already given Monsanto's GE alfalfa the green light, the Institute for Responsible Technology reasons that the best option we have now is to target major players in the food industry. Through a petition on Change.org and its own site, the non-profit is telling dozens of corporations like Sara Lee, Walmart, ConAgra, Kroger, and Kellogg's that if they want to keep us as consumers, they must publicly reject GE alfalfa and keep the Frankencrop out of their supply chains.

Blocking GE alfalfa from their supply chains will certainly be a tall order. Farmers rely on alfalfa as a main feed for beef cattle and dairy cows. Eliminating GE alfalfa from the supply chain would mean ditching all beef, yogurt, milk, and other dairy products from cows fed GE alfalfa or animals given conventional alfalfa that was contaminated by GE alfalfa.

Asking Big Food to voluntarily reject GE alfalfa products is a bold move, but there's no better time for such a lofty request. Over the past year, environmental organizations, scientists, and consumers have opposed GMOs like never before. For example, the Millions Against Monsanto campaign is currently forming 435 local chapters, with the goal of getting one million people (or more!) to stand against GMOs by World Food Day on October 16, 2011. Last spring, more than 200,000 people submitted comments to the USDA criticizing the proposal to deregulate GE alfalfa. After the USDA approved the crop anyway, notable foodies like Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser signed a letter publicly standing in opposition to the approval of GE alfalfa. And since the USDA approved GE alfalfa and sugar beets, tens of thousands of Change.org members have signed petitions asking the Obama Administration to reverse these crops' approval.

These examples and countless others show that the anti-GMO sentiments in this country are stronger than ever before. If there is a time to push the food industry into action, it's now.

The Institute for Responsible Technology is asking major food companies like Kraft, ConAgra, Sara Lee, Kellogg's, and dozens of others to publicly reject GE alfalfa. If you want these food producers and sellers to block GE alfalfa from entering their supply chains, sign on to the Institute for Responsible Technology's petition now.

Photo credit: Neubie via Flickr