USDA announces the adoption of National Standards for Bioengineering Food Information Disclosure
The United States Department of Agriculture announced on December 20, 2018 that the National Bioeng…The United States Department of Agriculture announced on December 20, 2018 that the National Bioengineering Food Information Disclosure Standard (hereinafter referred to as the "Standard") was adopted. In July 2016, the U.S. Congress passed the National Bioengineering Food Information Disclosure Act, requiring the U.S. Department of Agriculture to formulate mandatory standards for bioengineering food according to the requirements of the Act, and to disclose bioengineering food information. The Ministry of Agriculture designated the Bureau of Agricultural Market Services (AMS) to be responsible for compiling the Standards, and issued the guidelines in May 2018. After public review and improvement, the Standards were officially issued on December 21.
The Standard requires food manufacturers, importers and some entity retailers to disclose information about bioengineered foods and bioengineered food ingredients. At the same time, it ensures consistency of food ingredient information and label content, and avoids legislative conflicts between states. AMS has also developed a list of bioengineered foods, including alfalfa, apples, rape, maize, cotton, eggplant, papaya, pineapple, potatoes, salmon, soybeans, pumpkins and sugar beets, to identify bioengineered crops or foods from all countries around the world and to require regulated entities to keep relevant records. The Standards stipulate that regulated entities can disclose information in a variety of ways, including text, symbols, electronic or digital links, and small food producers can choose to provide consumers with telephone numbers or web sites. In addition, AMS sets the disclosure threshold at 5%, and since it is difficult to detect GM components in refined foods such as sugar extracted from beet and soybean oil, AMS has stipulated voluntary disclosure of such foods.
The specific implementation date of the Standard is January 1, 2020. The implementation date of the Standard can be extended to January 1, 2021 for small food producers. Regulated entities can voluntarily comply with the Standard by December 31, 2021.