GMO Labels Getting Closer

The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) said its SmartLabel QR initiative “provides more information that could ever fit on a package label,” and is found on more than 25,000 food and other items. “Digital disclosure by scanning an electronic link on a package is one of the ways to provide the bioengineered ingredient information required by the federal law,” GMA said in a statement.

While many food industry groups such as GMA, the Food Marketing Institute, the National Grocers Association, and the American Farm Bureau Federation largely support USDA’s labeling effort, some consumer and environmental groups continue to find fault with it, much as they did when the law was passed.

“This rule will help keep consumers in the dark, as it is intended,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director at Food & Water Watch. Digital codes and other technology make it more difficult for consumers to obtain GMO information than simple labels, she said, calling the provision “a gift to industry.”

Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety, said USDA’s own study found QR codes to be “inherently discriminatory against one-third of Americans who do not own smartphones.” On-package text or symbol labeling is “the only fair and effective means of disclosure for GE foods,” he added.

The law instructed USDA to assess potential technological challenges involved in using electronic or digital disclosure methods. While that report has been concluded, USDA has not made a final decision about the issue. The draft regulation, however, proposes a new disclosure option of text messaging for those shopping without a smartphone.

Unchanged from the law are several exemptions. These include food served in restaurants and other retail establishments, very small food manufacturers (having less than $2.5 million in annual sales), food derived from animals that consumed bioengineered feed, such as GMO corn or soybeans, and food verified under the National Organic Program. Meat, poultry, or eggs would require labeling only if the most prominent ingredient would independently be subject to the labeling requirement.

Food manufacturers with more than $10 million in annual revenues must comply by Jan. 1, 2020. Small food manufacturers (less than $10 million but $2.5 million or more in annual revenues) would have an additional year (Jan. 1, 2021). Food importers would be subject to the same disclosure and compliance requirements as domestic companies. USDA is considering recognition arrangements with foreign governments that have established bioengineered food labeling standards. In those cases, each country could agree to recognize each other’s standards as comparable.