The Non-GMO Project will “only become more relevant” as mandatory GMO labeling kicks in, in part because its scope could be so narrow that consumers will not simply be able to assume that anything without a bioengineered label is automatically Non-GMO, says executive director Megan Westgate.
USDA – which has just published a proposed rule establishing a National Bioengineered Disclosure Standard and hopes to finalize its plans “later in the year” – is currently elding comments on how broadly to interpret the term ‘bioengineered’ for food labeling purposes.
However, it has already made it clear that the definition excludes meat and dairy from animals fed GM feed, that it exempts gene-edited crops, and may also exempt highly refined oils and sweeteners made from GM crops such as soybean oil and high fructose corn syrup if they contain no detectible modified DNA.
Given that thousands of products that have been produced with genetic engineering at some stage in their development may therefore not be subject to mandatory GMO labeling under the proposed rule, consumers that care about this issue will in reality continue to look for the buttery logo when they go shopping, claimed Westgate.
Read full, original post: The Non-GMO Project may emerge as the big winner from federal GMO labeling legislation