A federal appeals court has ordered the USDA to rewrite key portions of its 2018 rule governing genetically engineered (GE) food labeling. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the USDA acted unlawfully by excluding highly refined foods from labeling requirements simply because GE material was not “detectable.”
The court said the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service misunderstood the law, explaining that whether a food “contains” GE material is different from whether it can be detected. Once rewritten, the rule could lead to more foods being labeled as genetically engineered.
The appeals court also found that the USDA must revise its approach to QR code labeling, saying that using QR codes alone does not meet the federal law’s requirement for accessible disclosure methods. However, the court upheld the USDA’s decision to use the term “bioengineered” rather than “genetically engineered,” calling it a reasonable interpretation of Congress’s intent.
Photo Credit: The USDA
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