Posted May 18, 2015
The U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA) has developed a new government certification and labeling
for foods that are free of genetically modified ingredients, according to a
U.S. News article available here.
The New York Times also published an article available here
and ABC News here.
Consumers
groups have been pushing for mandatory labeling of the genetically modified
organisms (GMO).
The
certification is the first of its kind, and it would be voluntary, however, companies
would have to pay for it. If approved, the foods would be able to carry a
"USDA Process Verified" label along with a claim that they are GMO
free.
Agriculture
secretary, Tom Vilsack, outlined the new certification in a May 1 letter to
department employees, saying it was done at the request of a “leading global
company,” which was not identified, according to The
New York Times.
The
government said GMOs on the market now are safe, so mandatory labels are not
needed, but consumer groups say shoppers still have a right to know what is in
their food.
Vilsack
said the USDA certification is being created through the department's
Agriculture Marketing Service, which works with interested companies to certify
the accuracy of the claims they are making on food packages, such as "humanely
raised" or "no antibiotics ever." Companies pay the Agricultural
Marketing Service to verify a claim, and if approved, they can market the foods
with the USDA process verified label, according to ABC
News.
"Recently,
a leading global company asked AMS to help verify that the corn and soybeans it
uses in its products are not genetically engineered so that the company could
label the products as such," Vilsack wrote in the letter. "AMS worked
with the company to develop testing and verification processes to verify the
non-GE claim."
For more information on biotechnology, please visit the
National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
