The Hershey Company has announced that it is aiming to go GMO-free on its Kisses Milk Chocolates and Milk Chocolate Bars within a few years.
The chocolate manufacturer succumbed to pressure from consumer and health advocacy groups that for years campaigned to get Hershey's to go GMO free, according to reports.
Hershey's said it would replace beet sugar to cane sugar and use a soy lecithin that is not derived from genetically modified soy.
The marketing campaign the company is using to earn the faith of consumers who have moved away from buying Hershey's products is based on the use of "simple ingredients."
The company released a statement that indicated it would also formulate a line of products that don't contain gluten, artificial flavors and colors and high-fructose corn syrup.
Its other products, Brookside Dark Chocolate Fruit and Nut Bars, will also lose the high-fructose corn syrup and artificial colors and flavors, the company said.
Has Hershey's gone as far as saying it was in favor of labeling its products that contain GMO? It has not, and the issue is a hot topic across the U.S. Food industry leaders like Pepsico, Coke and others say labeling food is too costly.
But recently, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said labeling could be an inexpensive process that could use a bar code that is scanned with a consumer's smart phone.
Vilsack said his idea may get traction as a federal labeling bill comes up for consideration.
But the technology involved with scanning a bar code could be too challenging for the average consumer, many of whom around the world may not have smartphone technology.
The timing on the Hershey's announcement coincides with the introduction of a bill in congress known as the Genetically Engineered Food Right-to-Know Act. Democrat Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.); Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) are lead sponsors of that bill.
