The Grocery Manufacturers Association has unveiled a new industry program to give consumers more information about what ingredients are in their food and pet products, although it hasn't been able to reach consensus on the touchy issue of labels for genetically modified organizations.

More than 30 companies have signed on to GMA's SmartLabel initiative, according to the association. Under the program, consumers can use mobile devices to scan bar codes on a wide range of food and pet products to direct them to online information on the contents of those products. Consumers can also use the information on labels to look up more information about products online.

GMA estimates that nearly 30,000 products will use SmartLabel by the end of 2017. Among the participating companies are Campbell Soup, General Mills, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola.

"People's relationship with food has changed dramatically and consumers now want to know more about their food, such as where it came from and what went into making it," said J.P. Bilbrey, chairman of GMA's board of directors. "SmartLabel creates a way for consumers to get unprecedented access to information about what is in their food. This is what real food transparency is about."

What consumers may not learn under the initiative is whether a food product contains genetically modified ingredients. GMA said many companies have agreed to disclose such information, but they still want a national standard spelling out when GMOs need to be labeled.

The association is currently fighting state efforts to require mandatory labeling of GMOs. It is instead pushing for voluntary, nationwide labeling standards.

At least one critic of the food industry isn't buying GMA's new disclosure initiative. The Environment Working Group—an environmental group that supports mandatory GMO labels—said in a statement the SmartLabel initiative was just a "high tech gimmick" that was no substitute for GMO disclosure on food packaging.

"Food companies can choose whether or not to include a code on their packages and can drop out of the program at any time. That's crazy," EWG said.

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