Hershey's Kisses Milk Chocolates and Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bars will start featuring 'simpler ingredients' this year, the company announced

It comes after pressure from anti-GMO activists, who claim the technology is environmentally suspect and a possible health threat

Hershey’s has confirmed that as part of its commitment to simpler ingredients, its two iconic products will be non-GMO by the end of the year.

Green America Food Campaigns director Nicole McCann states: “We congratulate Hershey’s on this important move and great first step. As one of the leading chocolate companies in the US, this commitment will help move the rest of the companies in this sector. Hershey’s joins General Mills, Unilever, Post Foods and other leading companies in responding to consumer demand to make at least some of its products non-GMO.”

It’s easy to take seeds for granted. Tiny dry pods hidden in packets and sacks, they make a brief appearance as gardeners and farmers collect them for future planting then later drop them into soil. They are not “what’s for dinner,” yet without them there would be no dinner. Seeds are the forgotten heroes of food—and of life itself.

Sharing these wellsprings of sustenance may sound innocuous enough, yet this increasingly popular exchange—and wider seed access—is up against a host of legal and economic obstacles. The players in this surreal saga, wherein the mere sharing of seeds is under attack, range from agriculture officials interpreting seed laws, to powerful corporations expanding their proprietary and market control.

Seed libraries—a type of agricultural commons where gardeners and farmers can borrow and share seed varieties, enriching their biodiversity and nutrition—have sprouted up across the U.S. in recent years, as more Americans seek connection to food and the land.

At least a dozen Arkansas farmers have joined hundreds of farmers in 19 other states in almost 800 lawsuits against Swiss seed maker Syngenta over genetically modified corn seed, a case that has been widely reported in the media.

The legal attack hit Kevin Folta in early February. After receiving a FOIA request from US Right to Know—a nonprofit dedicated to exposing “the failures of the corporate food system“—the University of Florida notified Folta, a food and agricultural science professor at the university, that he would have to turn over all of his e-mails relating to correspondence with 14 different firms involved in agribusiness.

A Colorado company is working to genetically engineer petunias that change colors throughout the day.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved the Okanagan Specialty Fruits’ genetically engineered Arctic Apples. The apples are engineered to resist browning when sliced.

Without regulatory oversight or public consultation, the USDA allows for the commercial production of a new GE pine variety. Yet opponents warn that the implications of introducing this GE product are unknown, and unknowable, without long-term studies.

The idea of a non-browning apple seems, somehow, not too exciting

Last week's announcement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that it would allow marketing of apples that have been genetically engineered to resist browning is turning some environmental activists several shades of red but food safety groups are taking it relatively well.

"Unlike most of the commercially approved genetically engineered crops, which provide benefits primarily to farmers, this product provides a modest benefit to consumers. It might make sense to use such a product for pre-sliced apple slices or in fruit salad or salad bars," said Gregory Jaffe, biotechnology director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

The non-browning "Arctic apples" were developed by Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc., a Canadian biotech company. They'll be produced in two varieties -- Granny Smith and Golden Delicious -- and are the first in what Okanagan says will be a bushel or more of produce engineered to hold up to the vagaries of time, weather and insects. Peaches, cherries and pears are close behind, the biotech company promises.

OSF says its vision is to "marry the age-old art of fruit breeding with modern science tools, creating exciting new products to benefit producers and consumers alike."

The Okanagan apples will be labeled as "Arctic" but will not be labeled as GMO, the company said. And that's leaving a sour taste in many mouths.

Hyeonju Lee, a technician at Kansas State University's Plant Transformation Laboratory, introduces a mix of rice DNA, which has been manipulated in the lab to enhance gene expression in wheat, and small particles of tungsten into embryogenic wheat callus, or a mass of plant tissue cells. A blast of helium is used to shoot the mixture into the callus tissue, which then genetically engineers single cells that each have the potential to grow into an individual cell.