HEFS’ PETITION IN SUPPORT OF PROPOSITION 37 ENDORSED BY OVER 100 NATIONALLY RENOWNED CHEFS INCLUDING:
DAN BARBER, MARIO BATALI, CAT CORA, JOYCE GOLDSTEIN, DEBORAH MADISON, JACQUES PÉPIN, CHARLES PHAN, NORA POUILLON, ANDREA REUSING, BARTON SEAVER, BILL TELEPAN, ALICE WATERS, AND MANY MORE
October 22, 2012—Alice Waters, restaurateur, author, owner of Chez Panisse, has called on her fellow chefs nationwide to join her in supporting California’s Proposition 37 – The Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act – which requires clear labels letting consumers know if foods are genetically engineered. Over 50 countries worldwide already require labeling of genetically engineered food.
In her recent letter, posted online at
http://www.carighttoknow.org/chefs, Waters urged her colleagues and friends to stand together as chefs, restaurateurs, and people who care about food to support Proposition 37, stating: “On November 6th, the future of food is at stake at the ballot box… this is our moment to do something really important for everyone on this planet…. People around the world are watching to see how we respond.”
In a few short days, more than 100 chefs have joined Waters’ call for support and have endorsed the petition, with more joining the effort daily. Renowned and award-winning chefs from the nation’s top restaurants have added their names to the petition, including: Dan Barber, Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns; Mario Batali, Babbo, Del Posto, Esca, and many more; Cat Cora; Joyce Goldstein; Deborah Madison; Jacques Pépin; Charles Phan, Slanted Door, Out the Door, and Wo Hing General Store; Nora Pouillon, Restaurant Nora; Elisabeth Pruiett and Chad Robertson, Tartine and Bar Tartine; Andrea Reusing, Lantern Restaurant; Barton Seaver; Bill Telepan, Telepan; and many more.
The Chefs’ Petition in Support of Prop 37 states:
As chefs, we are on the frontlines of feeding America and we have an enormous stake in ensuring transparency in our food system. It is our duty to nourish our guests, both in body and soul. However, we can’t prepare the best food we know how when information about the ingredients we purchase is hidden from us with labels that are missing basic facts. This includes foods that are genetically engineered or contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
While Proposition 37 does not require restaurants to label their food as genetically engineered, it provides chefs the ability to knowingly source ingredients made without GMOs.
Fifty countries around the world—representing more than 40 percent of the world’s population—already require GMO labeling, including all of Europe, Japan, India and China. Polls show that more than 90 percent of Americans want to know if their food is genetically engineered.
We demand the right to know what’s in our food and we are adding our collective voices to this movement!
For more information about the chefs’ petition to support Proposition 37, please visit: http://www.carighttoknow.org/chefs. For more information about the measure itself, please visit:
http://www.carighttoknow.org.
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