Both sides agreed to keep quiet about a meeting called by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to discuss labeling of GMO foods. “I gave my word,” said one participant in referring questions to USDA, which did not respond to queries. Up to a dozen people were expected at the meeting. Vilsack said the session would look for common ground. Any consensus might help Congress decide what to do about labeling, now voluntary at the federal level, Vilsack said over the weekend at a farm meeting.
Vermont’s first-in-the-nation GMO food labeling law is scheduled to take effect on July 1. The food industry has urged lawmakers to pre-empt state laws and to keep labeling voluntary. The House passed a bill to do that but it stalled in the Senate, where no Democrat was willing to sponsor the package. Congress also is loath to move on mandatory labeling, so both sides are at an impasse.