Brazil Justice Ministry Fines Nestle over Failing to Label GMOs

Posted on Jan 8 2016 - 1:48pm by Sustainable Pulse

The Brazilian Ministry of Justice has imposed fines on Nestle and five other food manufacturers after failing to inform the public over the use of GMOs.

Source: http://www.telesurtv.net/

The Brazilian Ministry of Justice has issued fines against six food manufacturers for failing to include labels indicating the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO).

The list of companies charged with financial penalties includes Nestle, Pepsico and Bimbo, with fines ranging from US$277,400 to just over US$1 million. In total, the fines amount to an estimated US$3 million.

The decision was reached as a result of an inspection carried out by Brazil’s Consumer Protection Agency Senacon in 2010, which found that GMOs had been used in cake mixes, snacks and various other products being sold in the country’s supermarkets.

Senacon accuse the companies of violating Brazilian consumer rights including the right to information, freedom of choice and the right for protection against abusive corporate practices.

Following the court ruling, Brazilian Institute of Consumer Defense researcher Ana Paula Bortoletto praised the decision for enforcing current legislation which requires the labeling of GMO products.

“The decision confirms the Ministry of Justice’s commitment to require all products that use genetically modified ingredients to include this information on their labels,” Ana Paula stated Thursday.

The sale of GMOs in Brazil were originally banned after the Institute of Consumer Defense won a lawsuit in 1998. However, in 2003 the Brazilian Ministry of Justice adopted measures that enabled the retail and use of GMO products, although a warning symbol is required for products intended for human consumption.

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2 Comments so far. Feel free to join this conversation.

  1. TonyGMOmutant January 9, 2016 at 08:30 - Reply

    Thank you, Sustainable Pulse.

    And thank you, Brazil.

    We demand full disclosure—no excuses are acceptable.

    And let us all be more discerning with the words “science” and “scientist.” If GMOs were a product of state of the art science, manufacturers of these demented sub-kindergarten science fair projects would be proud to label them. (!) Truth will out. (Or perhaps, “Truth would out.”)

    GMOs, pesticides, herbicides are not “science”; they are horrendous technology gone berserk.

  2. thomas January 10, 2016 at 15:09 - Reply

    We in the United States should force our government to emulate those that are ahead of us in sustainability practises. Many of our “first world’s” behaviors have become practicably incorrigible. We need to vote into office this year representatives that are for sustainability and climate causes rather than greed, deceit, usury, duplicity, and exploitation.

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