Source: Michael Fielding, MEATINGPLACE, 6/21/16


San Angelo, Texas – Just two weeks ahead of the July 1 implementation of a new law in Vermont that will require food containing genetically engineered ingredients to be labeled, U.S. House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway (R-Texas) took aim at the larger issue that’s being driven by consumers and some politicians nationwide.

"This is not food safety issue. It’s an informational issue," Conaway said during the opening keynote of the 69th Reciprocal Meat Conference (RMC) being held this week at Angelo State University here. “We finally got the [Country of Origin Labeling] thing taken care of.” Conaway fathered the bill passed by the House one year ago to repeal existing COOL legislation. In December, Congress repealed the law.

Now he’s recommending a nationwide voluntary program “that gets the right blend to what consumers want to know about without affecting price.” The focus all along should be on what he said are the bottom 20 percent of the population, who spend upwards of one-third of their income on food. “I’m worried about those folks at bottom of food chain. That’s about 80 bucks a month. [Mandatory GMO labeling is] not improving the quality of the food, not improving quantity of their food.”

He added that Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), who plans to propose a GMO labeling bill, is “trying to rope-a-dope us” into shepherding a GMO labeling law through both houses of Congress and get the president to sign it to preempt Vermont’s law. The House will take a weeklong recess on June 24. 

For more stories, go to www.meatingplace.com.