Just Label It GMO labeling campaign attracts record number of comments

01-Mar-2012 - Last updated on 01-Mar-2012 at 18:46 GMT

Related tags Genetically modified food Dna

A petition calling for food manufacturers to state on labels whether their products contain genetically engineered ingredients has attracted more than 850,000 comments, claim organizers of the Just Label It campaign.

The petition (Docket # FDA-2011-P-0723-0001/CP) has generated “more comments than any other food petition in FDA history”,claims the ‘Just Label It’ campaign, a coalition of nearly 400 businesses and organizations.

The deadline for comments is March 27, by which date the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is required to respond, said the group, which is preparing to release the findings of a new consumer survey about GE labeling.

FDA: Bioengineered foods are not materially different from conventional counterparts

While the vast majority of corn and soy grown in the US is from GE seeds, packaged foods containing ingredients made from these crops are not labeled accordingly, says the campaign.

As the law stands, the FDA does not require additional labeling about production methods (such as genetic engineering) if the resulting products are not “materially different” from their conventional counterparts.

In a recent guidance document about GE labeling, the FDA said: “The FDA has no basis for concluding that bioengineered foods differ from other foods in any meaningful or uniform way, or that, as a class, foods developed by the new techniques present any different or greater safety concern than foods developed by traditional plant breeding.”

To find out more about the Just Label It campaign, click here.