Are you ready to comply with the USDA’s Bioengineered Food Labeling Disclosure Standard, effective January 1, 2022? We have been helping customers comply to this requirement and want to help you too.
Read below to find out more about what is required, but simply put – instead of foods being labeled as Non-Genetically Modified or Non-Bioengineered, they will now be required to be labeled if they are bioengineered.
What is the Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard?
The National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard directed the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a national mandatory standard for disclosing foods that are or may be bioengineered.
New Labeling Requirements
Previous Labeling Requirements
What is a Bioengineered food?
Food that contains genetic material that has been modified through certain laboratory techniques and for which the modification could not be obtained through conventional breeding or found in nature.
Who is covered by the Standard?
Food Manufacturers, Importers, and Retailers who package and label food for retail or bulk food sales. Restaurants and similar retail food establishments and very small food manufacturers (<$2,500,000 of annual receipts) are exempted from the Standard.
How must products be labeled?
There are 4 options:
- On-package text, e.g. “Bioengineered food,” or “Contains a bioengineered food ingredient”
- USDA approved symbol for bioengineered food
- Electronic or digital link that must include instructions to “Scan here for more food information” or similar language that only reflects technological changes, and include the phrase “Call [1-000-000-0000] for more food information”
- Text message disclosure must include the statement: “Text [command word] to [number] for bioengineered food information.”
To read about the regulation or learn more about requirements, click here.