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posted by n1 on Monday May 18 2015, @10:47PM   Printer-friendly
from the needs-more-bacon dept.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has developed a voluntary program for certifying and labeling food that doesn't contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs):

The certification is the first of its kind and would be voluntary — and companies would have to pay for it. If approved, the foods could carry a "USDA Process Verified" label along with a claim that they are free of GMOs.

Agriculture Secretary Tom 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.

No government labels certify a food only as GMO-free. Many companies use a private label developed by a nonprofit group called the Non-GMO Project. The USDA organic label also certifies that foods are free of genetically modified ingredients, but many non-GMO foods aren't organic.

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, such as "humanely raised" or "no antibiotics ever."

"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."

[The Associated Press has the letter. I don't think they have released it.]

 
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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday May 19 2015, @03:20AM

    ... there are many who claim that anti-GMO activists are crackpots, that there is no difference in nutritional value for GMO foods, there's nothing poisonous in them etc.

    My concern is that most GMO sees are engineered to make them resistant to pesticides. That enables "Roundup Ready" seeds, for example. Roundup will kill all forms of plant life, other than those grown from GMO seeds.

    What does that do to other life forms in the soil where the crops are grown? What does it do to the groundwater?

    Ever tasted the well water in the south San Joaquin Valley of California?

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 19 2015, @04:11PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 19 2015, @04:11PM (#185104)

    See, having stringent investigations for that kind of stuff is fine. Plants making their own insecticide is pretty icky and just begs contamination. Most anti-GMO nuts are violently against every GMO plant, even ones like golden rice [wikipedia.org] which just adds some vitamins and such.

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 19 2015, @04:23PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 19 2015, @04:23PM (#185117)

      pretty icky

      That is exactly the kind of qualitative measure that should be used to judge if something is safe.
      Which is better:
      A plant producing a protein that is bad for insects and not for people that can selectively kill insects that eat crops.
      Crop dusting fields with a pesticide that kills all insects and can spread downstream to other ecosystems.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 19 2015, @04:17PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 19 2015, @04:17PM (#185109)

    There would be no pesticide use if there were no GMOs, right?