FMI has worked alongside our member companies and our coalition partners throughout the legislative and regulatory process to help establish a national standard for bioengineered (BE) food. On Friday, December 21, 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) released its National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (BE Rule) final rule just before the start of the partial government shutdown. The final rule largely mimics the proposed rule, with slight modifications and clarifications in the final version. A detailed discussion of the final rule is available to FMI members on our National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard Webinar; however, we provide some main takeaways for food retailers below:
What foods does the BE Rule apply to?
The rule applies generally to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulated foods subject to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) labeling requirements and a limited number of USDA regulated foods. It is important to remember that the rule also helps entities identify what items might require disclosure by limiting the applicability to foods and ingredients specifically determined by the Agency. Although the proposed rule incorporated two separate lists of BE foods/ingredients based on industry adoption levels, the final rule utilizes a single list to trigger recordkeeping and/or labeling requirements.1 They include only Alfalfa, apple (ArcticTM varieties), canola, corn, cotton, eggplant (BARI Bt Begun varieties), papaya (ringspot virus-resistant varieties), pineapple (pink flesh varieties), potato, salmon (AquAdvantage®), soybean, squash (summer), and sugarbeet.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Food Marketing Institute
