Grocery Manufacturers Association – Leading opponents of GMO labeling

The Grocery Manufacturers Association is one of the largest organizations representing the food industry. As of 2013, they had over 300 member businesses in food and beverage production as well as biotech and seed companies.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association is one of the leading opponents of GMO labeling. They have poured millions of dollars into defeating bills to label GMOs introduced in various states and are big supporters of the DARK Act, a bill made to make labeling GMOs illegal at the federal level. In the 2012 ballot initiative in California (Proposition 37) and 2013 ballot initiative in Washington (Proposition 522), the Grocery Manufacturers Association and its members donated over 54 million dollars, just to fight labeling.

This organization spends millions of dollars a year lobbying at the federal and state level, primarily to fight GMO labeling. In 2014, they poured money into fighting the GMO labeling initiatives in Colorado (Proposition 92) and Oregon (Proposition 105). The GMA spent big dollars convincing the public that labeling GMOs will increase overall food prices. Unfortunately, their efforts have been successful, though by a narrow margin. Of the 68 companies and organizations listed that funded opposition to these four propositions, only seven were not members of the Grocery Manufacturers Association as of 2013. These 7 organizations are identified.

Full List of Right To Know Opponents

No.	Donor	No On 37	No on 522	No on 92	No on 105
1	Monsanto Co.	$8,112,867	$5,374,411	$5,958,750	$4,755,878
2	Dupont	$5,400,000	$3,880,159	$4,928,150	$3,000,000
3	PepsiCo	$2,485,400	$2,352,966	$2,350,000	$1,650,000
4	Grocery Manufacturers Association	$2,002,000	$11,000,000**	$169,190	$106,600
5	Kraft Foods	$2,000,500	–	$870,000	$1,030,000
6	BASF Plant Science (Non-Member)	$2,000,000	$500,000	–	–
7	Bayer CropScience	$2,000,000	$591,654	–	–
8	DOW Agrosciences	$2,000,000	$591,654	$1,157,150	$306,500
9	Syngenta Corporation	$2,000,000	–	–	–
10	Coca-Cola North America	$1,690,500	$1,520,351	$1,170,000	$1,108,000
11	Nestle USA	$1,461,600	$1,528,206	–	–
12	General Mills	$1,230,300	$869,271	$695,000	$820,000
13	ConAgra Foods	$1,176,700	$828,251	$350,000	$250,000
14	Kellogg’s Company	$790,700	$322,050	$500,000	250,000
15	Smithfield Foods	$683,900	–	–	$250,000
16	Delmonte Foods	$674,100	$125,677	–	–
17	Campbell Soup Company	$598,000	$384,888	–	–
18	Smucker Company	$555,000	$349,978	$295,000	$345,000
19	Hershey Company	$518,900	$360,450	$320,000	$380,000
20	Biotechnology Industry Organization (Non-Member)	$502,000	–	11,200	$108,000
21	Heinz Company	$500,000	–	–	–
22	Mars Inc.	$498,350	–	–	–
23	Hormel Foods	$467,900	$76,803	$85,000	85,000
24	Unilever	$467,100	–	–	–
25	Bimbo Bakeries	$422,900	$137,460	$230,000	270,000
26	Bumble Bee Foods	$420,600	$52,365	$45,000	$50,000
27	Ocean Spray Cranberries	$409,100	$80,295	$35,000	80,000
28	Council for Biotechnology Information (Non-Member)	$375,000	–	$12,827	–
29	Sara Lee Corporation (Non-Member)	$343,600	–	–	–
30	Abbott Nutrition	$334,500	$185,025	$160,000	$190,000
31	Pinnacle Foods Group	$266,100	$175,425	–	–
32	Dean Foods	$253,950	$174,553	–	–
33	Cargill	$250,000	$143,133	$111,000	$135,000
34	Bunge North America	$248,600	$137,896	–	–
35	Rich Products Corporation	$248,300	$34,911	$30,000	–
36	McCormick & Company	$248,200	$148,369	$130,000	–
37	Flowers Foods	$182,100	$205,099	–	$250,000
38	Mondelez International	$181,000	$210,336	$720,000	–
39	Dole Packaged Foods	$175,000	–	–	–
40	Knouse Foods	$167,600	$20,946	$20,000	$25,000
41	Welch Foods	$167,000	$41,893	$30,000	$35,000
42	Land O’Lakes	$153,300	$144,878	$760,000	$900,000
43	Sunny Delight Beverages	$139,700	$30,547	$25,000	$25,000
44	Wrigley Jr. Company	$123,350	–	–	–
45	Tree Top Inc.	$110,600	–	–	–
46	Clement Pappas & Co.	$100,000	$30,547	–	–
47	Hilshire Brands Company	$85,900	$282,775	–	–
48	Hero North America (Non-Member)	$80,800	–	–	–
49	Mead Johnson Nutrition Company	$80,000	–	$50,000	$50,000
50	Faribault Foods	$76,000	–	–	–
51	Solae Inc.	$62,500	–	–	–
52	Goya Foods	$56,700	–	–	–
53	McCain Foods USA	$53,400	–	–	–
54	Godiva Chocolatier	$42,700	–	–	–
55	B&G Foods	$40,000	–	–	–
56	Clorox Company	$39,700	$17,455	–	–
57	Bruce Foods	$38,500	$4,364	–	–
58	C.H. Guenther & Son	$24,700	–	–	–
59	Morton Salt	$21,400	–	–	–
60	Reily Foods Company	$18,400	–	–	–
61	Inventure Foods	$15,600	–	–	–
62	Hirzel Canning Company	$15,000	–	–	–
63	Idahoan Foods	$10,000	–	–	–
64	Sargento Foods (Non-Member)	$10,000	–	–	–
65	Snack Foods Association (Non-Member)	$10,000	–	–	–
66	Shearer’s Foods	–	$36,656	$30,000	$35,000
67	Niagara Bottling	–	–	–	$10,000
68	Michael Foods	–	–	$30,000	–

**GMA member donations included in list

In 2013, the Grocery Manufacturers Association took down the publicly available list of members from their website. The 2013 membership directory is archived online and available here.

The Food and Water Watch, a consumer advocacy group, listed the 2012 Board of Directors of the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the amount of money each group contributed. These companies are some of the biggest opponents of GMO labeling. Additionally, these companies are supporting the GMA’s lawsuit against the State of Vermont. In a democratic process the people of Vermont have spoken, and they want GMOs labeled, the GMA is suing to subvert the results of this democratic process. These companies spend big dollars blocking your right to know, not just through the GMA but by direct campaign donations as well.

In these matters, money talks. However, there was a good reason that the Grocery Manufacturers Association no longer publicizes their list of members; it is becoming increasingly expensive to ignore the will of the people. The companies are obviously worried about damage to their image from blocking your right to know what is in your food. If we don’t vote with our dollars, organizations like Monsanto, the GMA, Pepsi, and other companies will vote with our dollars for us, and not with any regard to our wishes.

Sources:

http://documents.foodandwaterwatch.org/doc/GMA_Profile1.pdf#_ga=1.199922478.1015463669.1441382848

Full List of Right To Know Opponents

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Joel Edwards

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