Hershey's is the largest North American manufacturer of chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery products, with revenues of over $4 billion and more than 13,000 employees worldwide.

These products contain ingredients such as corn syrup and soy lecithin, which are derived from the two most commonly grown GE food crops - soy and corn. Yet Hershey has no policy to avoid GE ingredients and its products are unlabeled.

In 2001, As You Sow organized a shareholder group of socially responsible investors - with over $21 million in combined Hershey shares - which filed a resolution that asked the company to report about steps required to phase out GE crops, organisms, or products unless long term testing proves them safe to humans, animals and the environment. Just two days after its annual meeting Hershey Foods made a rare public statement to the Wall Street Journal that the company had asked farmers not to grow genetically engineered sugar beets. The Consumers Union credits Hershey's decision with stopping the development of GE sugar beat industry.