December 26, 2018  -  The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has issued the Final Rule on Disclosure of Bioengineered Foods. The Federal Register Notice was published on December 21 and is attached below. Please review pages 65871-65876 which include the required Bioengineered Symbols (pages 65874 and 65876).

Food industry professionals should avoid reliance upon the commercial media discussions of this complex matter and focus upon the text of the Federal Register Notice. The media discussions usually omit important details at the same time as the reporters, who are neither lawyers nor qualified Food Scientists, often tell us “more than they know” about important technical matters.

USDA/AMS has issued the initial List of Bioengineered Foods that are available in a bioengineered form and for which regulated entities must maintain records. These records will inform regulated entities about whether or not they must make a bioengineered food disclosure. The list includes any BE crops or foods that are to capture any BE crops or foods that are currently in legal production somewhere in the world. New BE products continue to be developed and, if a food is not included on the List, regulated entities whose records show that a food they are selling is bioengineered must make required disclosure.

AMS will review the List annually and provide updates. The initial list is - Alfalfa, Apple (Artic TM), Canola, Corn, Cotton, Eggplant (BARI Bt Begun), Papaya (ringspot-virus resistant), Pineapple (pink flesh varieties), Potato, salmon (AquaAdvantage), soybean, squash (summer), sugarbeet.

We have also attached the Factsheet, the Q&A, and the Symbols Graphic.