What is GMO food labeling?

The GMO labeling law is directed at grocery products. Food sold by restaurants, food trucks, delicatessens, or served by airlines are not required to carry bioengineered food labels even if the items are produced with GMOs. Meat, poultry, and egg products are not covered by the labeling law.

Since 1992, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has required labeling of GM foods only if the food has a nutritional or food safety property that is significantly different from what consumers would expect of that food.

It has been estimated that upwards of 75% of processed foods on supermarket shelves – from soda to soup, crackers to condiments – contain genetically engineered ingredients.

Back when GMOs were introduced into the market in the 1990s, the federal government didn’t require a label if a food product contained an ingredient that had been genetically modified. … This legislation establishes a federal standard for labeling foods that have been made with genetically modified organisms.

Plant GMOs are regulated by the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service under the Plant Protection Act. GMOs in food, drugs, and biological products are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the Public Health Service Act.

If you find yourself staring down the business end of a four-digit PLU, you can look for the “USDA Certified Organic” or “Non-GMO Project’s Product Verification” labels, neither of which can be used unless the food is GMO-free. If you don’t see a five-digit PLU beginning “9,” assume it’s GMO.

A number 8 prefix added to a PLU signifies that an item is genetically engineered (GE). For example, #84011 is the code for a genetically engineered yellow banana.

Within two years, more than half of all the papaya grown on Hawaii was GMO. A decade later, GM papaya accounted for over 90 percent of papaya production. For farmers, the GMO papaya has made a world of difference. “GM papayas mean sustainability for our family farm.

Genetically modified papaya produce the coat protein because they contain a gene taken from the virus. Transgenes themselves are made out of DNA (which is found in all living cells), and are therefore designated by the FDA as Generally Recognized as Safe, or GRAS.