By: Greg Ferrara, Senior Vice President Government Relations and Public Affairs, National Grocers Association
Late last week the Senate voted 63-30 to pass the Roberts-Stabenow GMO Labeling bill, S. 764. The bill now heads back to the House for consideration, the last hurdle before the bill can be sent to the President for his signature.
Allowing for a patchwork of differing state labeling laws will have a number of unintended consequences, including widespread confusion and the stigmatization of certain food products. As an example under the Vermont law a can of vegetable soup will need to be labeled for GMOs; however a can of vegetable and beef soup would not be labeled because UDSA regulates that product label.
The Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) and the Ranking Member of the Committee, Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) have been working together for months to try to reach an agreement on a GMO labeling bill. It was announced last week that they have reached an agreement and are moving forward to garner support from other Members of the Senate in the hopes of passing the bill.
This bill represents months of work by the food manufacturer and retail industries in support of legislation that preempts the state labeling laws with a federal labeling standard. The bill would require mandatory labeling of most food products containing GMOs, and includes language that would allow for federal preemption of state labeling laws immediately upon enactment of the bill. You can urge your Representative to support the bill by taking action HERE.
