On Dec. 20, 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) released a final rule to implement the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (the BE rule). Under the BE rule, food manufacturers, retailers and importers will be responsible for labeling foods that are deemed “bioengineered” (BE). Although the BE rule exempts many meat and poultry products from the disclosure requirements, it does not completely exempt all products inspected by USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Foods entering commerce after Jan. 1, 2022, must comply with the BE rule.
Congress charged AMS with promulgating the BE rule when it passed a 2016 law that mandated a federal BE disclosure scheme. The federal law preempted labeling laws that had gone into effect in Vermont and were passed or under consideration in several other states. Passing a federal law allows one uniform standard in the U.S. and avoids a potential patchwork of labeling laws.