Today, the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN), the National Farmers Union, Vigilance OGM, Safe Food Matters, and Kids Right to Know called on the Minister of Health to urgently implement mandatory labelling for all genetically engineered foods.
The groups pointed out critical contradictions in recent government policy statements on genetic engineering and transparency.
When Health Canada announced its approval of a genetically engineered pig on January 23, 2026, it stated, “The company and Health Canada are committed to the highest level of transparency and will communicate to the public when this new technology enters the Canadian market.”
However, mandatory labelling is the highest level of transparency. Health Canada’s new pledge to inform the public when a genetically engineered pig enters our food system does not provide Canadians with product information to make informed choices in grocery stores. Instead, it would ask Canadians to start guessing.
Click here to read and share today’s press release.
Click here to read our letter to the Minister of Health demanding mandatory labelling.
Your recent actions are having important impacts and are helping us to increase the pressure for mandatory labelling. Continue reading below for updates.
Take action
Demand mandatory labelling. Send your quick letter to the Minister of Health from cban.ca/labelGMOs
Tell your Member of Parliament what you think about unlabelled genetically engineered foods. Your personal letter to your Member of Parliament is influential. Use your postal code to find your MPs contact at ourcommons.ca.
There are no genetically engineered animals currently produced or sold in Canada.
See more information at cban.ca/labelGMOs
Updates: Why now is the time to demand mandatory labelling
Many Members of Parliament are paying attention to the current public demand for labelling food from genetically engineered and cloned animals in particular, and there are many new developments that help make a strong argument for mandatory labelling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
At the end of last year, many of you signed our House of Commons e-petition 6768. On January 26, 2026, the Government of Canada responded with a statement that included,
“While genetically engineered foods are considered as safe and nutritious as conventional foods, our government recognizes that information about genetic engineering is important. That is why we have been working with the Canadian General Standards Board since November on a public review of the National Standard for labelling and advertising of foods that are, and are not, products of genetic engineering. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency uses this Standard to provide its guidance to companies on the labelling of foods.”
While recognizing that information on genetic engineering “is important”, this Government refers to the voluntary labelling standard housed under the Canadian General Standards Board which is it is closing on April 1st, 2026.
After twenty years of experience with this existing standard, it is clear that companies are not volunteering to label their genetically engineered products. To our knowledge, no company has ever voluntarily labelled their food as genetically engineered.
In January, many of you wrote during the public comment period on this labelling standard to help make sure that the standard would not be changed to allow gene-edited GMOs to be labelled as non-GMO. The process to finalize the reviewed standard is not yet complete and there is only one month left before the Canadian General Standards Board is dismantled.
Thank you for your continued action.