Background

Passed by Congress in July, 2016 and signed into law by President Obama in the same month, the Denying Americans the Right to Know (DARK) Act struck down a Vermont law requiring easy, clear to read GMO labeling on food packaging. The new law also preempted labeling laws in Connecticut, Maine, Alaska and seed labeling laws in Vermont and Virginia while also preventing other states from adopting similar legislation in the future.

CFSA opposed this legislation and other versions of it for years. This new law will require food manufacturers to disclose genetically modified ingredients, but will allow them to do so using printed labels, QR codes, or, in some cases, by printing toll-free numbers consumers can call to ask if the product they’re about to purchase contains GMOs. The bill also raised questions at the US Food and Drug Administration about whether certain types of genetically engineered food would be labeled at all.

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