Companies donate $690K to oppose Oregon GMO labeling

Seven major food companies have donated a total of $690,000 to stop a ballot measure that would require genetically engineered food to be labeled in Oregon.

That brings the total raised by the campaign against Measure 92 to more than $1 million.

The donations came from companies such as Pepsi, Hershey and Bumble Bee Foods — which all worked to stop a similar ballot measure in Washington in 2012.

The campaign against Washington's labeling initiative broke state records when it raised $21.4 million in 2013. Supporters of the proposed law raised $6.3 million, and the measure was defeated.

The same thing happened in California in 2012. Opponents of Prop 37 spent $46 million.

In Oregon, the Yes on 92 campaign has raised slightly more than $430,000, according to online records from the Secretary of State's Office.

"We are going to get outspent here. There is no question about it," said Sandeep Kaushik, spokesman for Oregon Right to Know, previously told the Statesman Journal.

He hopes that Oregon's above average knowledge about genetically engineered food products will help his campaign compensate for its funding deficit.

A breakdown of the $690,000 in donations to the No on 92 campaign:

• Pepsi donated $250,000

• Hershey donated $160,000

• J.M. Smucker Company donated $147,500

• McCormick & Company donated $65,000

• Ocean Spray donated $35,000

• Bumble Bee Foods donated $22,500

• Knouse Foods donated $10,000

What would Measure 92 do?

If Measure 92 passed, it would require all food produced with genetically engineered ingredients to include the words "Genetically Engineered" on the front or back of their packages starting in 2016.

Raw food, like apples or potatoes, that aren't usually packaged, would need to have a label nearby.

The law would only apply to food for human consumption, and it wouldn't apply to food served in restaurants.