Meat+Poultry - August 2017 - 14

WA S H I N G T O N

GMO labeling marches on
The Donald Trump administration has
delayed the implementation of a new
federal Nutrition Facts Panel as well
as a new national menu labeling law.
Could a finalized GMO labeling law be
delayed, too?
That question was asked to Craig
Morris, Ph.D., a deputy administrator
for the US Dept. of Agriculture's
Agricultural Marketing Service, in a
presentation at the Institute of Food
Technologists' annual meeting and food
exposition held in Las Vegas.
"Well, we have a statutory
requirement to have the regulation
published by July of 2018," he said.
"So that (a delay) would be up to the
administration. Our intent obviously
is ... the current marching orders we
have in place is to have regulation in
place by July of '18."
The new Nutrition Facts Panel
issued by the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) originally was
supposed to become mandatory by July
26, 2018. The Trump administration
has delayed compliance until a date
yet to be determined. Morris said the
USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service,
which will oversee the GMO labeling
law, is working closely with the FDA
and that mandatory compliance for
both rulings potentially could be dates
where manufacturers could come into

compliance at the same time.
The Barack Obama administration
enacted the GMO labeling law, known
as the National Bioengineered Food
Disclosure Standard, on July 29, 2016.
Morris said the USDA hopes to release
a proposed rule for public comment
this fall.
The law defines bioengineered
food as food intended for human
consumption that contains genetic
material that has been modified
through in vitro recombinant DNA
techniques and for which the
modification could not otherwise
be obtained through conventional
breeding or found in nature. The
Secretary of Agriculture shall
determine the amount of bioengineered
substance necessary to deem the food
as bioengineered.
Morris said the USDA is facing an
"aggressive" timeline to publish the
final rule by July 2018. The transition
to the Trump administration from the
Obama administration is a factor.
"It takes some time often to bring
new political leadership up to speed
on this massive bureaucracy that they
have inherited in the executive branch,"
he said. "This is an unbelievably
important law."
The executive branch may have
some say on the final rule, such as what
items may receive exclusions.
 "The administration does have
discretion in terms of choosing within

legislative authority that which will be
covered," Morris said.
Highly refined sugars and oils
potentially could receive exclusions.
Currently the USDA's Agricultural
Marketing Service has the authority to
cover highly refined sugars and oils in
the GMO labeling law.
"We haven't asked for a new ruling
on that yet," Morris said. "However, that
is very clearly one of the issues that we
are dealing with. We understand the
limitations in detecting genetic material
in highly refined sugars and oils."
Morris listed the nine areas of the
GMO labeling statute:
1. Defining bioengineered food,
2. The authority to preempt state food
labeling standards,
3. The creation of federal mandatory
disclosure,
4. Providing manufacturers with three
choices in disclosure: text, electronic
disclosure such as quick-response
(QR) codes, and other forms such as a
symbol,
5. Exclusions that do not require
disclosure,
6. Special allowances for small food
manufacturers,
7. Food safety implications, although
the statute in no way shape or form
disparages bioengineered foods,
8. Provisions for organically produced
foods, and
9. Enforcement.
J E FF G E L S K I | m e a t p o u l t r y @ s o s l a n d .c o m

"It takes some time often to bring new political
leadership up to speed on this massive
bureaucracy that they have inherited in the
executive branch."

14

MEAT+ POULTRY | 08.17 | www.meatpoultry.com

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- CRAIG MORRIS, PH.D.
http://www.meatpoultry.com
Meat+Poultry - August 2017

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