Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 8/8/18

USDA was supposed to have finalized its GMO labeling guidelines on July 31, per statute, but that wasn't the case. (Getting ahead of the delay, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue had already predicted the department wouldn't meet that deadline).

Yet, there's no clear timeline for when USDA will determine the standards that companies must abide by when disclosing the presence of GMOs in their food products. Some in the food space speculate that we may be waiting around until as long as next year for a final decision.

Slowly but surely? A USDA spokesman said the department continues to review the more than 40,000 comments submitted during the public feedback period, and will be working through the interagency process to develop a final rule to submit to OMB. As your co-host reported, one of the central issues USDA will have to take a position on is whether highly refined sugars and oils that may only contain traces of GMO DNA need to be labeled — an issue that has split the food industry.