Last week the House of Representative passed the Senate’s comprehensive GMO labeling bill. The bill was a compromise between Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) that would make GMO labeling required, rather than voluntary. The bill would also preclude individual states from having their own label laws, creating a federal standard that would avoid a “patchwork” of fifty different state labeling laws.

  

The Roberts/Stabenow compromise creates a federal GMO labeling standard for all food products with genetically engineered products. The ingredients can be disclosed on the package itself, or on a website that can be inked through a QR code on the package. Additionally, companies can simply list a phone number or website listing that would disclose the use of GMO ingredients in the product. The bill will also allow any organic food product to automatically be labeled “non-GMO”. If the bill becomes law, the USDA will then go through a rulemaking process to draft the regulations for the labeling standard. Alcohol is exempted from labeling as expressed in the language of the bill. WineAmerica will be closely monitoring the rulemaking process on this bill to insure that alcohol continues to remain exempt from the labeling standards. The President is expected to sign the bill into law this week.