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takyon writes:

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.]