Source: USDA, 5/22/18

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is announcing the availability of an informational webinar about the Proposed National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard. The pre-recorded webinar will provide an overview of the background, provisions and potential impacts of the proposed standard. The webinar will be made available on the AMS website at https://www.ams.usda.gov/be by June 1, 2018.

The proposed standard would require food manufacturers and other entities that label foods for retail sale to disclose information about bioengineered food and bioengineered food ingredients.  Establishment and implementation of the new standard is required by recent amendment to the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946.

USDA is holding the webinar to provide an overview of the proposed rule and procedural information to interested persons and industry stakeholders. Since the comment period is still open, USDA is under ex parte communication restrictions, which prohibits USDA from discussing the merits of the proposal.

USDA will issue a notice in the Federal Register on May 23, 2018, due to the complicated nature of the proposal and the multiple options it offers for comment. AMS is committed to help interested entities better understand the many facets of the rule.

For additional information contact befooddisclosure@ams.usda.gov or call (202) 690-1300. Comments on the proposed rule sent to this email address will not be considered.  Comments on the proposed rule and on the information collection are being accepted through July 3, 2018, and should be submitted as directed in the May 4, 2018, Federal Register document.

 For more information, click here.