BREAKING: House passes GMO labeling bill

A bill to create federal labeling standards for food products containing genetically modified organisms was passed by the House of Representatives yesterday, by a vote of 306 to 117. The bill, which was approved by the Senate last week, is now on its way to the President, who is expected to the sign the bill into law. The bill requires the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to create a mandatory national labeling standard for food products that contain genetically modified ingredients, and would preempt states from enacting their own labeling standards for such products. If signed into law, the bill would strike down a recently enacted GMO labeling law in Vermont, which went into effect on July 1, 2016 and imposed more stringent labeling regulations than the federal bill. In its current form, the new federal law would allow food producers to choose from a range of methods to disclose the presence of genetically modified ingredients, including the use of text, a USDA-created symbol, or a digital QR code that consumers can scan using a smartphone. The full language of the statute is available here.