On July 14, 2015, the House Agriculture Committee submitted a report amending and approving H.R. 1599, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, introduced by Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) in March 2015, to create a uniform national standard for voluntary labeling of genetically engineered foods (commonly referred to as "genetically modified organisms" or "GMOs").
In addition, the Act would preempt state and local jurisdictions from banning the production of GMO crops and from passing mandatory GMO labeling laws, thereby overturning the laws passed in Vermont, Connecticut, and Maine. Under the Act, USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service ("AMS") would create a voluntary genetically engineered food certification program for GMO-Free claims. However, this certification would not suggest whether the product is safer or of higher quality for being GMO or non-GMO. Notwithstanding the above, FDA would have the authority to require foods to be labeled as GMOs when "(A) there is a material difference in the functional, nutritional, or compositional characteristics, allergenicity, or other attributes between the food so produced and its comparable food; and (B) the disclosure of such material difference is necessary to protect public health and safety or to prevent the label or labeling of the food so produced from being false or misleading in any particular."
In the same week, the Senate Appropriations Committee ("Committee") introduced a GMO salmon labeling provision as part of the FY 2016 Agriculture Bill. Under the Act, FDA would assess the Committee's request and determine whether salmon labels need to indicate if the product is GMO.
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