With Congress at an impasse on GMO labeling, the food industry and labeling activists will look for common ground at a session convened by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “That meeting is going to take place this week,” Vilsack told reporters without providing details. “We’re going to explore that [common ground]. I can’t tell you whether there is.” Vilsack says he will tell leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture committees about the outcome of the talks. “If there is going to be any activity relative to the Vermont law, obviously, it is going to have to be made through members of Congress.”
The House passed a bill backed by the food industry last year to pre-empt state labeling laws and to keep labeling voluntary at the federal level. The legislation, which would put USDA in charge of certifying if foods are GMO or non-GMO, gained little traction in the Senate. Vermont’s first-in-the-nation GMO food-label law takes effect on July 1. The food industry says it faces additional costs in labeling its products to comply with the Vermont law, and in altering delivery routes to prevent packages landing on grocery shelves in the Green Mountain State without the mandatory labels.
At the end of last week, Campbell Soup Co. said it supports mandatory GMO labeling of food and beverages, becoming the first major food company to back the labels. Campbell also said it “will withdraw from all efforts led by coalitions and groups opposing such measures.” If there is no “federal solution” soon, Campbell said it will put GMO labels on its goods.
Food companies say the new SmartLabel, a QR code, that shoppers can scan with smartphones is an ideal way to provide detailed information about food products. An estimated 20,000 products will carry the SmartLabel by the end of 2017, says the Grocery Manufacturers Association.
“The issue of labeling is not going to go away,” Vilsack said during a news conference in Orlando.