The United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) has developed the first government certification and
labeling for foods that are free of genetically modified ingredients.
Although anti-GMO advocates have pushed
for labels for years, it was a request from a major food-processing company
that prompted Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to act.
So far the Canadian government has
refused to participate in GMO labeling.
Certification by the USDA would be
voluntary — and companies would have to pay for it.
If approved, the foods would be able to
carry a "USDA Process Verified" label along with a claim that they
are free of GMOs.
Vilsack outlined the department's plan
in a May 1 letter to employees, saying the certification was being done at the
request of a "leading global company," which he did not identify. A
copy of the letter was obtained by The Associated Press.
Until now there have been no government
labels that certify a food as GMO-free. Many companies use a private label
developed by a nonprofit called the Non-GMO Project.
Vilsack said the USDA certification is
being created through the department's Agriculture Marketing Service, which
works with interested companies to certify the accuracy of the claims they are
making on food packages — think "humanely raised" or "no
antibiotics ever."
Companies pay the Agricultural Marketing
Service to verify a claim, and if approved they can market the foods with the
USDA label.
"Recently, a leading global company
asked AMS to help verify that the corn and soybeans it uses in its products are
not genetically engineered so that the company could label the products as
such," Vilsack wrote in the letter.
"AMS worked with the company to
develop testing and verification processes to verify the non-GE claim," he
wrote.
This is all a crock. GMO corn and soybeans are no different from non-GMO varieties in terms of nutrition or food safety. Vilsack is as foolish as the anti-GMO zealots. Except maybe the global food company donates to his election campaigns.
