After years of debate, the US Congress just passed a GMO Labeling Bill or H.R.1599 – Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015. And president Obama is expected to sign it soon.
GMO’s are genetically modified organisms, in this case food, that have changes introduced to their DNA. These changes can be anything from removing seeds, increasing the size, or even making them less attractive to insects.
There’s a lot of controversy surrounding them, but we’re not here to debate that today. Instead, we just want to catch you up on this bill.
It seems to be a compromise bill between those who want GMO labeling because they feel there needs to be transparency in our foods and the GMO Food companies who are scared that labeling will drive shoppers away like they did in Europe. But it looks like neither side is too happy…
The bill would require all food companies to make the information available through the label, but there’s a catch … They don’t have to say “GMO Food,” but instead they can use a QR Code that shoppers would have to translate in order to find out.
So unless you’re a robot, you won’t be able to read it on your own! Smaller companies will also be able to place a phone number or website RL where the information can be discovered.
There are a few other laws included to note…
Organic food companies now have the right to label as “Non-GMO”
But neither GMO or Non-GMO food companies can claim they are better than the other.
The leaves many of details of the new scheme like which foods would have to be labeled up to the US Department of Agriculture, the USDA.
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