The Vermont Retail Grocers Association (VRGA) is advising its members and suppliers that they can continue to label products that contain GMOs.
President Obama recently signed into law a new federal bill governing GMO disclosure on food products, which preempts Vermont’s first-in-the-nation GMO labeling law.
Erin Sigrist, VP at the VRGA, said there are a number of issues surrounding Vermont’s law that still need to be resolved and that the association will continue to update its members on compliance-related issues with the GMO regulations. She said the Vermont Attorney General’s Office has not updated its guidance on enforcement and is looking at various legal options that might be available to the state.
“In the meantime, we have received assurances from the AG’s office that labels changed for Vermont’s law can be used for the next few years at least until the federal rules take effect. With all the consumer interest in this issue, several food manufacturers, like Campbell’s and Mars, have already indicated they will continue with on-pack labeling disclosures for the time being. While there is no longer a mandate to label products that contain or may contain GMOs, manufacturers are welcome to continue to use their recently updated labels.”
Under the new federal law, USDA has two years to develop regulations to implement the new federal statute, which requires products be labeled with disclosures either on packaging or online.
