Prop 37: California's Newest Challenge for Food-Product Companies

Doing business in California is notoriously challenging for consumer-product companies and retailers, particularly regarding product labeling. In November 2012, a new right-to-know product-labeling law, Proposition 37, is on California’s ballot—this time taking aim at products containing genetically modified ingredients. Under the law, any food containing more than 0.5 percent of any genetically modified ingredient would require a warning label. Products with those ingredients also would be precluded from marketing themselves as “natural,” thus opening another wave of California label litigation against unsuspecting manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, both large and small.