USDA and FDA Work at New Labeling Rules

The Department of Agriculture in the U.S made public the long-awaited biotech labeling rule. When final, it will set the federal requirements for mandatory disclosure to consumers of the presence of bioengineered traits within various food products.

This rule has been in the process of writing for over two years, following the passage of the Biotech Labeling Disclosure Act in the summer of 2016. Under the rule, USDA utilizes the term "bioengineered" instead of "genetically-modified" to identify biotech products that are potentially subject to the rule's disclosure requirements.

A number of important definitions are still left unresolved in the proposed rule, according to Northern Plains Potato Growers Association.

For example, the fundamental definition of a bioengineered product is not defined and comments are requested. On that issue, NPC and a host of other organizations will be arguing that products that can brought to market with conventional breeding techniques should not be considered bioengineered if the activity occurs in a lab instead of a field.

NPC has been an active member of the Safe and Affordable Foods Coalition that argued for reasonable federal requirements for consumer disclosure, as opposed to the growing patchwork of state laws that would have created a substantial burden on food producers and manufacturers.

The proposed rule has a 60-day comment period. Under the law, USDA is under a July 29th deadline to finalize this rulemaking. However it is likely that deadline will be missed due to the volume of public comments that are anticipated.

FDA Extends Nutrition Facts Label

On the other hand, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration extended the compliance dates for updating Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts labels, from July 26, 2018, to January 1, 2020, for manufacturers with USD10m or more in annual food sales.

Manufacturers with less than USD10m in annual food sales will receive an extra year to comply – until January 1, 2021. The agency published a proposed rule to extend the compliance date in September 2017, and this rule finalizes that extension.

After considering a range of stakeholder comments, the FDA recognizes the need for manufacturers to have additional time to make required changes. The approximately 18-month extension accomplishes this goal and will provide sufficient time for the companies to transition to the new version of the Nutrition Facts label.

The FDA is also committed to ensuring that all manufacturers have guidance to help implement the required label changes by the upcoming compliance dates. A full list of Nutrition Facts-related guidance documents is available on the FDA website.