As I’m learning more and more about “hidden” ingredients in nutrition labels on the foods I’d like to purchase, I feel a need to support food labeling laws that help consumers (like us!) see what is really inside the products on the shelves at the grocery store. I’ve found two ways to support these labeling laws that I’d like to share with you today.
Support Healthy Food and Clean Water
Environmental Working Group and Food Policy Action-Education Fund’s Plate of the Union Campaign has some great goals:
OUR CALL TO ACTION
The goal of our food system should be to produce healthy, affordable food that is accessible for all Americans, protects our health and our environment, treats animals humanely, and protects our farmers and keeps them farming their land.
We believe that our food and farm policies should:
1. GROW MORE ORGANIC.
Currently, less than 1 percent of our cropland is dedicated to growing organic crops. If we invested more in organic farming, we’d not only protect the environment, but we’d make organic food more accessible for everyone – meaning more clean, healthy food for our families, grown right here in the United States.
2. INVEST IN CLEAN WATER AND HEALTHY ANIMALS.
Current farming practices are making us sick. The overuse of antibiotics in farming has led to the rise of antibiotic-resistant superbugs. Runoff of manure, fertilizers and pesticides into lakes, rivers, and streams is affecting our drinking water and leading to the rise of toxic algal blooms.
3. FIGHT HUNGER AND FOOD INSECURITY.
Too many Americans, especially children, go hungry every day. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a vital part of feeding America’s hungry and should be strengthened and modernized, instead of constantly being under the threat of cuts.
4. REVITALIZE LAND AND REDUCE FOOD WASTE.
If American households, food producers, restaurants, and everyone else up and down the food chain reduced food waste, we could reduce the environmental footprint of food waste and create opportunities to alleviate hunger. Food and farm policies that support urban agriculture can turn challenges into economic opportunities for cities and local communities.
Support GMO Labeling
Organic Voices Action Fund’s JustLabelIt.org is pressing for mandatory labeling of GMO foods:
Studies show that more than 90% of Americans support mandatory labeling of genetically modified (GMO) foods. Yet for twenty years we have been denied that right.
While our reasons for wanting to know what’s in our food may vary, what unifies us is the belief that it’s our right to know. Without labeling of GMO foods, we cannot make informed choices about our food. The Just Label It campaign was created to advocate for the labeling of GMO foods.
A legal petition calling for the mandatory labeling of GMO foods, written by attorneys at the Center for Food Safety, was submitted in September 2011 to the FDA. It was created on the premise that people have a right to know what is in their food, and to give consumers not only a voice, but a choice in how they can take action. On March 27th, 2012, 180 days after the petition was filed, over 1 million Americans had signed in support of labeling genetically modified foods. To date, the FDA petition has received over 1.4 million signatures.
Hundreds of partner organizations representing the healthcare community, consumer advocates, farmers, concerned parents, environmentalists, food and farming organizations, businesses, the faith-based community, and many more concerned with protecting the consumer’s right to know have joined together in support of the FDA petition and the mandatory labeling of genetically modified foods.
We hope to raise awareness of this issue and let Washington know that Americans want labeling of genetically modified foods.
Check them out, and if they move you, get involved by signing up for notifications on their sites. Do you know of other ways too support labeling laws? What are your thoughts on these campaigns? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below the related posts listed below!
Learning about mindful, healthy food choices that keep your family healthy and free from disease.
Sharing info about food, what's in it, organic eating, and recipes.
I believe we can change our lives and prevent or reverse disease by changing the way we eat. Sound like something you want to explore more? Then I will meet YOU in my kitchen!