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Labeling pinch point Although wheat poses no GE-sourcing problems, other bakery ingredients do. As supply now stands, there will not be enough non-GMO fats and oils to supply US bakeries. And while such sources exist, they will likely move preferentially into the foodservice channel whose demand for frying oil exceeds the baking industry's need for shortening. If sourcing issues can be solved, the conversion to nonGMO ingredients shouldn't be difficult from a technical standpoint, although there will be costs to do the reformulation work in the lab and plant. But it's the raw material pricing that sets the big hurdle with costs that will have to be passed along to consumers. The Corn Refiners Association estimated that switching all food products covered by the Vermont law to non-bioengineered status could reach as high as $81.9 billion annually, or $1,050 per US family. That's the cost of labeling all a manufacturer's products, not just those going to Vermont. These costs are for segregating ingredients, reformulating foods and testing to determine biotech content. They also cover packaging changeover, a one-time cost that may be high as $3.8 billion nationally or $32 per household. Packaging was on the mind of Dave Watson, vice-president of engineering, Campbell Soup Co. "[GMO labeling] hits us primarily from a packaging standpoint. For example, if you're going to sell products in Vermont, which passed GMO label laws and is in the process of implementing them, you will be required to come up with a different set of package labels on that same product going to another state. A uniform labeling standard would be a move in the right direction." The potential for state-by-state GMO labeling comes fast on the heels of big alterations in the Nutrition Facts Panel, a federal mandate. Revisions require declaration of "added sugars" and change the way fats are described. Bakers, like all food manufacturers, are already dealing with these changeover costs on the packaging side because the new labels must be in place by July 26, 2018. (Manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales will have an additional year to comply.) Bakers will be looking for both ingredient and packaging solutions at IBIE. "The big concerns are labeling laws and guidelines that may vary from state to state," said Robert Benton, senior vice-president and chief manufacturing officer, Flowers Foods. "Without a consistent federal law, it's going to get very confusing for food companies that distribute products across state lines." Vermont stakes its claim The Vermont rule requires food products containing at least 75% GE content to use verbiage on labels such as "produced with genetic engineering." Products with less than 75% can add "partially" to that wording. Martin Hahn, partner at Hogan Lovells LLS and general counsel for SNAC International, noted the difficulty of bucking Vermont's rule by halting marketing efforts in the state. "The reality is that food manufacturers would have a hard time keeping their products out of Vermont," he said. "It's a really hard thing to do." The food industry turned to federal legislation as a possible solution. The first attempt to stop Vermont failed in March. As the days ticked off in late June, the Senate Agriculture Committee hustled to find a solution. A last-minute agreement emerged and was passed by the full Senate. The House approved the bill July 14 and sent it to the president for signing. Supported by the food industry, the new law fully preempts piecemeal state labeling laws for foods containing GMOs, starting immediately. It does, however, make such on-package information mandatory nationwide, but it gives a three-year implementation period. "Members of the baking industry deserve a great deal of credit for their tireless work in pushing the bill across the finish line," said Fred Penny, president of Bimbo Bakeries USA and chairman of the American Bakers Association. He noted that nearly 5,000 emails, phone calls and face-to-face meetings on Capital Hill showed legislators that a patchwork of state labeling requirements would dismantle the industy's distribution network. "Inaction was not an option," Mr. Penny said. * Go ahead, eat, it's safe Bioengineered foods pose no health risks to humans or threats to the environment. Those findings come from "Genetically Engineered Crops, Experiences and Prospects," an in-depth report published in May by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NAS). Scientists compared epidemiological data from the US and Canada, where bioengineered food ingredients have been widely consumed since the mid-1990s, with similar data from the UK and Western Europe, where such food is not commonly eaten. "The committee [of scientists] found no evidence of differences between the data ... in the long-term pattern of increase or decrease in specific health problems after introduction of GE foods," according to the NAS report. The issues probed included cancer incidence, rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease, celiac disease, autism and food allergies. The report also observed that although many bioengineered traits and crops have been developed in the laboratory, most are not available in the marketplace. The exceptions are modifications for herbicide and insect resistance and mostly present in soybeans, corn, canola and cotton. IBIE 2016 / PreShow Guide / 91

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IBIE - 2016 Special Edition & Show Preview

IBIE - 2016 Special Edition & Show Preview
Table of Contents
IBIE PERSPECTIVE - Challenges Amid Attractive Conditions
STATE OF THE INDUSTRY - Well Positioned for Growth
Fuel for the future
PARADE OF PROGRESS - Bakers and exhibitors say they go to IBIE because …It's About the Future
EQUIPMENT TRENDS SURVEY - Good Vibrations
IBIE TECH - Must-have Mobile
ENGINEERING ROUNDTABLE - Putting it on Automatic
ABA PERSPECTIVE - Election 2016: The Stretch Run
Getting the Message Out
‘Premiumization’ opportunities abound
B&CMA, ABA - Pathway to the Future
Cookie-cracker education at IBIE
FSMA & THE BAKERY - Proof of Validation
SANITATION & SAFETY - Signs of the Times
How to collaborate, a PMMI protocol
PACKAGING - One-stop Shop
COLD STORAGE LOGISTICS - Securing Smooth Sailing
INGREDIENT CHOICES - The Big Questions
Go ahead, eat, it’s safe
TAX RELIEF - Go Ahead, Spend
SOCIAL MEDIA - Plugged into Consumers
INGREDIENT TRENDS - Favorable Forecast
INGREDIENT TRENDS: FATS & OILS - Deadline: 2018
WORKFORCE GAP - A New Paradigm
BREAD TRENDS - I Love Bread
bake - Special Edition
Retail Perspective - Road to Recovery
Retail Perspective: Equipment - Innovations Abound
Retail Perspective: Cake - Standing out from the crowd
Retail Perspective: Education - School in session
A World of Opportunity
INTERNATIONAL INSIGHT: BAKED FOODS - Global Growth: It's Not Easy
ALL-AMERICAN TAILGATE - Kickoff IBIE 2016
VEGAS GUIDE - Something for everyone
Off the beaten path
Ad Index

IBIE - 2016 Special Edition & Show Preview