Canada: How Magic Markers Are Messing Up Our Food System
Submitted by Chuck0:NAOMI KLEIN
Wednesday, June 20, 2001
In the aisles of Loblaws, between bottles of President's Choice Memories of Kobe sauce and Memories of
Singapore noodles, there is a new in-store special: blacked-out labels on organic foods. These boxes
used to say "free of genetically modified organisms," but then Canada's largest grocery chain decreed
that such labels were no longer permitted.
At first glance, its decision doesn't seem to make market sense. When the first frankenfoods protests
came to Europe, chains such as Tesco and Safeway scrambled to satisfy consumer demand by labelling
their own lines GMO-free. And when Loblaws entered the health-food market with its line of President's
Choice Organics, it seemed to be going the same route. In ads, the company proudly pointed out that
certified organic products "must be free of genetically modified organisms."
