The Senate and the food industry are divided on the biotech labeling issue. The Senate is negotiating a compromise between those that want a national mandatory program verses a voluntary system. At the same time the food industry is also lining up on both sides of the issue. Mike Gruber with the Grocery Manufacturers Association says they support a law that will supersede state mandates like Vermont, but still allows voluntary labeling.
Gruber says as a result, they’ve developed an online alternative that allows consumers to scan a QR code on the package to get ingredient information. It’s called a Smart Label.
On the opposite side of the issue is the “Just Label It” Coalition, representing 700 plus groups, including the Environmental Work Group. EWG’s Scott Faber says they’re calling for a labeling mandate.
He says this isn’t being driven by consumer activists, but by mainstream consumers that want to know what is in their food. He says it’s not an attack on biotechnology.
Faber says they want biotech ingredients to be listed in the ingredient line and research indicates 90-percent of consumers do as well.
