USDA finalizes biotech labeling rule for food
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has announced the final National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard. The National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Law, passed by Congress in July of 2016, directed the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) to establish this national mandatory standard for disclosing foods that are or may be bioengineered.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has announced the final National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard. The National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Law, passed by Congress in July of 2016, directed the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) to establish this national mandatory standard for disclosing foods that are or may be bioengineered. The standard requires food manufacturers, importers, and certain retailers to ensure bioengineered foods are appropriately disclosed.
More than 14,000 comments were received and taken into consideration during the rulemaking process. Prior to this, the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) received more than 112,000 comments in response to 30 questions provided on the AMS website regarding establishment of the rule.
The regulation defines bioengineered foods as those that contain detectable genetic material that has been modified through lab techniques and cannot be created through conventional breeding or found in nature. The implementation date of the rule is Jan. 1, 2020, except for small food manufacturers, whose implementation date is Jan. 1, 2021. The mandatory compliance date is Jan. 1, 2022. Regulated entities may voluntarily comply with the Standard until Dec. 31, 2021.
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) developed the List of Bioengineered Foods to identify the crops or foods that are available in a bioengineered form throughout the world and for which regulated entities must maintain records. The records will inform regulated entities on whether the food must have a bioengineered disclosure to be communicated to consumers. Regulated entities have several disclosure options: text, symbol, electronic or digital link, and/or text message. Additional options such as a phone number or web address are available to small food manufacturers or for small and very small packages.
Some in the industry have responded positively to the final rule. U.S. Food Marketing Institute (FMI) President and CEO Leslie G. Sarasin issued the following statement: “FMI commends USDA for introducing a more precise vocabulary into the public discourse regarding biotechnology in food production. We look forward to working with the department to promote consumer understanding of the terminology in this rapidly emerging field.”
However, other groups appear to be on the fence. The Sustainable Food Policy Alliance has said it continues to review the rule, but that it “remains concerned, however, that the standards fall short of consumer expectations, and the practices of leading food companies, particularly when it comes to how we are already disclosing highly refined ingredients and the threshold for disclosure. Our member companies will continue to take strong, proactive steps to meet consumer expectations for transparency—and we encourage others in the industry to do the same.”
While the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) “generally supports” the final rule, it believes the rule is complex and will require educating consumers before they will be able to understand the newly disclosed information. In a statement on its website, the CSPI clarifies that some aspects of the mandatory disclosures rule are not in the best interest of consumers. “First, the term ‘bioengineered’ is unfamiliar to most consumers,” stated the organization. “Second, highly processed ingredients which are derived from genetically engineered crops, such as sugar and corn oil, will not be disclosed on a mandatory basis, but could be disclosed on a voluntary basis.”
CSPI agrees with the decision to disclose highly processed ingredients as “derived from bioengineering” but disagrees with USDA’s decision to not mandate that disclosure. By making the disclosure of this information voluntary, “consumers will be confused when one product voluntarily discloses that is it ‘derived from bioengineering’ and an identical product has no such disclosure.”
National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard