To buy or not to buy should be the question that consumers are forced to ask when it comes to genetically modified organisms (GMOs), but instead, the question has become, “How do I tell?”

Today’s consumers expect to see information about a food’s nutritional content, ingredients and potential allergens clearly laid out on a label so they can plan their diets accordingly, but that does not mean companies are giving shoppers full disclosure.

Lots of information is withheld from customers buying certain types of food, such as how long ago food was packaged, where ingredients in packaged foods come from and how many antibiotics have been injected into our meat, but the public, specifically those involved in the Millions Against Monsanto movement, have pulled the inclusion of GMOs in food into the spotlight through protests held across the country, including one organized by Grand Valley State University students last weekend.

The jury is still out on whether GMOs, defined by the World Health Organization as foods whose DNA has been altered from what naturally occurs, are harmful. Some studies suggest that a diet based on GMOs does not have negative side effects, and others have suggested links between GMO consumption and organ disruption.

But regardless of the potential impact of GMOs, food producers should be required to disclose when the foods they use are genetically modified. GMOs are cheaper for food producers to grow on a large scale, but it should ultimately be the consumer’s choice whether the cost benefits are worth it.

For those buyers who are wary of GMOs or want to control the level of unnatural foods they put into their bodies, the opportunities to avoid GMOs are woefully slim. Some brands, especially those that market to the health-minded set, will advertise that their products do not contain GMOs, but just because a food does not bear that label doesn’t mean GMOs are there. There is also no system to differentiate between a food that contains one GMO ingredient or a food that contains all GMO ingredients.

In the land of the free (and the free market), consumers deserve the tools to make informed decisions at the grocery store, and that includes whether a food is made with GMOs.