USDA creates new program to label non-GMO products

But how do you know whether a product is made with genetically modified organisms? It's not always easy to tell.

For companies that want to certify their food as being free of these ingredients, there's the Non-GMO Project Verified seal administered by the independent Non-GMO Project. Some companies, like General Mills, just put "Not made with genetically modified ingredients" on the box of Cheerios.

 

But, increasingly, there's been a push for the federal government to step into GMO labeling.

 

Now, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced in a letter to his staff (dated May 1) that the agency's Agricultural Marketing Service is developing a verification program for food products containing genetically modified ingredients.

 

"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. "And AMS worked with the company to develop testing and verification processes to verify the non-GE claim." 

 

SunOpta Inc. identified itself May 18 as "the first food manufacturing facility in the U.S. to receive USDA Process Verified Program verification for Non-Genetically Modified Organisms/Non-Genetically Engineered products."

 

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