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Aug 31, 2017
The American Soybean Association (ASA), along with other members of the Coalition for Safe Affordable Food (CFSAF), submitted comments last week to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in response to the questions that were posted online regarding the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard.
ASA and CFSAF will continue to engage with the administration as the process moves forward.
ASA submitted additional comments on topics of significant importance to the soybean industry. The comments advocate for USDA to adopt 5 percent as the threshold of bioengineered substance present to trigger mandatory disclosure and emphasized the purpose of the law is to establish a marketing mechanism, not a food safety standard. Further comments urged USDA to adhere to the statutory definition of bioengineering, which requires labeling of foods that “contain genetic material that has been modifies through in vitro recombinant deoxyribonucleaicacid (DNA) techniques.”
USDA is reviewing stakeholder input and is expected to propose a rule this fall, followed by a public comment period and subsequent changes. The congressionally mandated deadline to finalize the rule is July 2018.
