I grew up believing that the food I bought was safe. It was the government’s job to make food manufacturing follow safe handling practices, and I always believed the labeling was accurate, so I could make informed decisions about what I consume.

Today, I cannot trust anything that I buy at the corporate food stores. It doesn’t have to be this way, but the food industry won’t do the right thing and inform us about whether or not the food we’re eating is genetically engineered or not.

So we must take action ourselves, and Initiative 522, which recently qualified to be on the ballot, is an important start that will make a difference. If people are allowed to make informed decisions about what they eat, that will help us to take back some control of our food system.

Paul Sandoval, Kirkland