USDA to Release New Food Labeling
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue recently announced the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard. The Standard is the result of the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Law, which was approved in 2016. The law directed the USDA to establish nationwide, mandatory labeling standards for foods that include bioengineered ingredients.
The standard defines bioengineered foods as those that contain detectable genetic material that has been modified through certain laboratory techniques and not created through conventional breeding or found in nature.
The label will go into effect on January 1, 2020. Smaller food manufacturers have until January 1, 2021 to implement the label. Mandatory compliance is required by January 1, 2022.
The goal of the label is to increase transparency in the nation’s food system.