I searched and searched to find a product with the Bioengineered seal but could not find any online. Both Hy-Vee and Walmart’s online shopping platforms were limited to pictures of the outside packaging and the ingredients list, so if a product did not have the seal on the outside packaging, it was generally not listed in the online information. However, after searching my cupboards for a product, I finally found one.
It was a box of Almond Oat Crunch Cheerios, and it had one statement near the bottom of the box. It stated “contains bioengineered ingredients”. There was no bioengineered seal on the front panel or on any of the outside packaging. The only indication was that simple statement that is easily lost amongst the small print information underneath the ingredients panel.
I think this is rather unfair to the consumer. The statement is not in plain sight and is only found with a rigorous reading of the entire ingredients panel. Technically speaking, the packaging tells the consumer that there are genetically modified ingredients in the Cheerios, but the placement makes that information much harder to find than is strictly necessary. I believe this may have been done so consumers are not turned off by the product, but, once again, it is taking advantage of consumers only paying attention to the front panel and information that is in large print.
Photo credit: The photo of the information on the Cheerios box was shot and edited by myself.