USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service has issued a proposed rule to implement the landmark legislation requiring some form of disclosure of biotech ingredients on food packaging reports Agri-Pulse.
The 106-page proposed rule – officially titled the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (NBFDS) – offers up definitions on what is considered a bioengineered ingredient, suggestions on how disclosure of those ingredients should occur, and the scope of exemptions available under the law.
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The National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) noted that as a member of the Steering Committee of the Safe Affordable Food Coalition, the proposed rule represents a significant step toward establishing a final standard that is designed to give consumers access to more information about the bioengineered content of the food they purchase, while providing for national uniformity in bioengineered food labeling that is essential to providing consumers with continued access to a safe, abundant and affordable food supply.
The NGFA noted that the safe use of crop biotechnology in food long has been verified by numerous governmental, international and domestic scientific and regulatory bodies, including the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the American Medical Association, and the World Health Organization.
"Thus, the bioengineered food labeling standard is about providing more access to information to consumers," says the NGFA. "It most emphatically is not a food safety standard."
