House Passage of HR 1599

House Passage of HR 1599

Yesterday afternoon House passed HR 1599, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act with a vote of 275-150. This legislation sets a uniform, common-sense national standard for labeling foods with GMOs and for GMO-free foods. Congressman Rodney Davis shared in the committee hearing

Davis: "This bill is about giving consumers in all 50 states the right to know about the presence or absence of genetic engineered ingredients in their food, through a voluntary labeling system run by the USDA. We know that the National Organic Program has seen much success from producers and consumers looking for foods that are grown in the organic production methods. This bill mimics that structure and gives consumers the information they need to more education about the labels they read and food that they purchase. Most importantly this bill creates one standard for products claiming to non-genetically engineered or genetically engineered as a opposed to multiple labels with multiple criteria."

In other legislative news, the Senate has had two different legislation introduced concerning Country of Origin Labeling — one repealing COOL introduced by Senate Ag Committee Chair Senator Pat Roberts and the other introduced by Senate Ag Committee ranking Member Debbie Stabenow which proposes replacing the mandatory labeling with a voluntary program.

Previous ReportPasture and Rangeland Conditions
Next ReportRegional Weekly Hay Report