Some food manufacturers have been sued for using “all natural” labels on products that contain genetically modified ingredients. Traceability to farmer including soil type is an emerging need. Vermont has passed a law that requires foods containing GMO ingredients to be labeled as such, and more than 20 other states are considering mandatory labeling of GMO foods, including Colorado and Oregon, which have the issue on the ballot for the November election.

The Vermont bill makes it illegal to call any food product containing GMOs “natural” or “all natural.” Urvashi Rangan, executive director of the Consumer Reports Food Safety and Sustainability Center said “Companies shouldn’t be able to do an end run by slapping a ‘natural’ label on a product that contains GMOs as, unfortunately, they are allowed to do today. Leave it to the state of Vermont to pick up where the FDA has left off when it comes to defining natural.”

The following image shows GMO regions in the world.

Consumer Reports said it had conducted a survey of more than 80 different processed foods containing corn or soy, the two most widely grown genetically engineered crops in the United States, to determine whether labeling claims for GMO presence were accurate.

While foods labeled as “non-GMO,” or “organic” were found to be free of genetically modified corn and soy, virtually all of the foods labeled as “natural” or not labeled with any claim related to GMO content contained substantial amounts of GMO ingredients, Consumer Reports said.

GMOs were present in breakfast cereals, chips, and infant formula, the group said. The organization said it tested at least two samples of each of the 80 products to measure GMO content. The products were purchased between April and July 2014, the group said.

Products considered to be free of GMOs contained no more than 0.9 percent genetically modified corn or soy.

The report comes as the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents more than 300 food companies, is pushing the federal government to develop a definition of the term “natural” on food packaging, and to allow foods containing GMOs to be labeled as natural.

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