Americans have a right to know what’s in their food, said 11 Democratic senators in urging the USDA to mandate clear and easy-to-understand labels on food made with genetically modified organisms. The labels, which are due next summer, “should consist of clearly worded, on-package text labels indicating the presence of GE ingredients,” the senators said in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.
“QR codes or other electronic disclosures should not be used until broadband internet access and smartphone adoption are near universal and no longer present obstacles to consumer access to bioengineered information,” they said in the first of five recommendations for the USDA guidelines. The others included such steps as listing GMO ingredients first on any digital or electronic disclosures and delaying the use of digital disclosures until all grocery stores have QR scanners.
The GMO labeling law, passed during the Obama administration, ended two decades of dispute over GMO labeling. It makes the labels mandatory on food packages nationwide while preempting state label laws. The law allows disclosure to be made by wording on the label, via a toll-free telephone number, or through digital and electronic methods such as QR codes.