UEP Comments on Bioengineered Food Regulations

July 12, 2018

UEP commended USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service for its proposed rule on bioengineered foods disclosure, which follows the law passed by Congress in assuring that eggs, milk and meat will not be considered bioengineered simply because of the feed the animals consume.  UEP and other animal agriculture groups lobbied hard for a provision in the law that says that consuming bioengineered corn or soybean meal does not indicate animal products are bioengineered.  There is no recombinant DNA in eggs, milk or meat, whether the animals, for example laying hens, consumed bioengineered feed or conventional feed.

UEP also supported the proposed rule’s treatment of egg products, which generally are exempt from the disclosure standard because, like meat and poultry, they are regulated by USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service, rather than the Food and Drug Administration.

Under the law, USDA is supposed to finalize the bioengineered foods rule by late July, but there is little likelihood that this will happen.  A large number of comments have been submitted and it is likely to take several more months for USDA to review the comments and make decisions on a final rule.