Vegetables on display at a grocery store

Federal GMO Labeling Law Regulations Delayed

The USDA is delayed in finalizing the regulations of the law mandating the labeling of genetically modified food. While the regulations were originally meant to be in place by July 2018, Andrea Huberty, senior policy analyst for the USDA AMS Livestock, Poultry and Seed Program, said that the USDA is “a little behind to get this done by 2018,” due in large part to the change in administration.

June 9, 2017 | Source: Organic Authority | by Emily Monaco

The USDA is delayed in finalizing the regulations of the law mandating the labeling of genetically modified food. While the regulations were originally meant to be in place by July 2018, Andrea Huberty, senior policy analyst for the USDA AMS Livestock, Poultry and Seed Program, said that the USDA is “a little behind to get this done by 2018,” due in large part to the change in administration.

“We’re still on track, but a little behind,” she said Tuesday at the Food Label Conference in Washington, D.C.

The law made GMO labeling mandatory but charged the USDA with defining the products that will require labels, the amount of GMO ingredients in an individual product that would require a label, and the appearance of the labels themselves.

Any delay in finalizing these regulations may jeopardize the federal law’s preemption of more stringent state and local laws, such as Vermont’s GMO labeling law, which was originally set to take effect on July 1 of last year, reports Food Dive.

Certain regulations have nevertheless already been decided upon. For example, the GMO labeling law will not pertain to meat, poultry, dairy, or egg products that come from animals that have eaten GMO feed.