The American Soybean Association “wants to change the dialogue on GMO labeling by supporting a voluntary certified non-GMO label through USDA,” says DTN. “Such a label would piggyback on similar programs under the USDA for organic certification. In a story from the Commodity Classic, DTN quoted ASA president Wade Cowan as saying the group was taking a new stance on labeling food made with genetically modified organisms. With a voluntary USDA-certified label, Cowan told DTN, “Those people and those companies in the food chain that want to go into that market have the ability to label theirs as such.”
DTN quoted Cowan as saying the voluntary label could “put this issue behind us.” Vermont enacted a GMO labeling law last year that will take effect July 2016 if it survives a court challenge. Rep. Mike Pompeo, Kansas Republican, is expected to file a bill to pre-empt state law and keep labeling voluntary at the federal level.