Big Food’s new “Smart Label” proposal is no substitute for a simple GMO disclosure on food packaging.

New polling by the Mellman Group shows that few consumers have ever scanned a “QR” (Quick Response) code and that nine of 10 consumers want a GMO label on the package – not a high tech gimmick.

Here are the top 10 reasons Congress should not be fooled by the Grocery Manufacturers Association’s phony alternative to mandatory GMO disclosure on the package. Members should flatly reject efforts to block GMO labeling in the big year-end spending bill.

1. Consumers Don’t Scan QR Codes – The number of consumers who scan QR codes to get information about products is low – and not growing.  In general, most consumers simply don’t use smart phones at the point of sale. It’s just not how we shop for food.

2. Many Consumers Don’t Have Smart Phones – More than 40 percent of consumers – especially low income, less educated and elderly consumers – don’t have phones that can scan QR codes. Installing scanners in every supermarket aisle would be costly for retailers and inconvenient for shoppers.

3. Consumers Won’t Know to Scan – There would be no prompt – like “scan here for GMO” – on the package, so consumers wouldn’t even know that scanning the code would give them more information about their food.

4. GMO Information Hidden – Even if consumers did scan the code, GMO information would be hidden under “other” information, and the disclosure wouldn’t definitively tell consumers what they want to know – whether the food has GMO ingredients. And the Grocery Manufacturers Association admits that Smart Label would have no rules governing what is a “GMO.”