Appeals Court Orders USDA Update Genetically Modified Food Labeling - Slay News
A federal appeals court has ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) improperly allowed certain genetically modified foods to avoid congressionally mandated labeling requirements.
The ruling overturned a key portion of the federal agency’s rules.
U.S. Circuit Judge Daniel Collins wrote that the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) “committed legal error in concluding that, under ‘the plain language of the amended Act,’ ‘if a food does not contain detectable modified genetic material, it is not a bioengineered food.’”
In his decision, Collins said AMS “relied entirely on the flawed legal premise that the non-detectability of a substance under the regulation was equivalent to its nonpresence.”
- Advertisement -Congress passed a 2016 law requiring the agriculture secretary to establish national labeling standards for bioengineered (genetically modified) ingredients.
AMS completed the rulemaking in 2018, and mandatory compliance began on January 1, 2022.
The rules required companies to label foods containing genetically modified ingredients as “bioengineered.”
However, AMS created exceptions for products in which genetic modifications were rendered undetectable during processing.
Citizens for GMO Labeling and several advocacy groups sued.
They are arguing that all foods containing genetically modified ingredients should be labeled, whether they’re detectable or not.
A federal district judge sided with the USDA in 2022, but the Ninth Circuit reversed that part of the ruling.
The three-judge panel found that AMS’s broad exemptions were not supported by the statute and sent that portion of the rule back to the agency for reconsideration.
The ruling noted that AMS may still craft some exclusions consistent with congressional instructions.
The USDA has not issued a comment on the litigation.
George Kimbrell, legal director for the Center for Food Safety, which represented the challengers, called the ruling “a landmark victory for the public’s right to know what they eat and feed their families.”
“We are gratified that the Court has struck down USDA’s loophole for ultra-processed GMO foods, the vast majority of which have been genetically engineered for increased pesticide tolerance,” he said.
- Advertisement -The group noted that products such as soda and cooking oil were among those exempted under the existing rules.
The appeals court upheld AMS’s use of the term “bioengineered,” rejecting efforts by the challengers to require more commonly used terms such as “genetically modified.”
The panel also agreed that AMS improperly allowed companies to rely on digital codes, rather than on-package text, to disclose bioengineered ingredients.
It ruled that the district court should have vacated that portion of the rule and sent the matter back with instructions to do so after hearing further arguments from the parties.