As Vermont is set to become to the first state to require the labeling of genetically modified foods on July 1, the state’s attorney general says his office will target “willful violations” by manufacturers and not products that were produced before that date still on store shelves.
“What we’re really going to go after is folks who are willfully noncompliant, who are just not putting labels on their products at all or otherwise trying to skirt the labeling law,” said Todd Daloz, an assistant attorney general.
Because some shelf-stable food will be produced and distributed before July 1, the state is allowing for a six-month period for those products to move through the system.
The law requires manufacturers to label packaged foods produced with genetic engineering and stores must post a label on or near unpackaged genetically engineered foods such as produce.
The Food and Drug Administration says genetically modified organisms, which can include food made from seeds that were engineered in laboratories to have certain traits, are safe, but labeling advocates say not enough research has been done and people have a right to know what’s in their food. Advocates also say the use of GMOs has led to big increases in herbicide use.
Maine and Connecticut also have passed laws that require such labeling if other nearby states put one into effect.
In recent weeks, food companies Kellogg, Mars, ConAgra, and General Mills have joined Campbell Soup Co. in saying they will print new national labels in preparation for Vermont’s law.