The US Senate has approved a bill, which mandates nationwide labeling of food products containing genetically modified organisms (GMO).
The bipartisan bill, which mandates GMO labeling contents with words, pictures or a bar code on the food products, is now subject to approval from the House of Representatives.
Introduced by lawmakers on the Senate Agriculture Committee which include Kansas Republican Senator Pat Roberts and Michigan Democrat Senator Debbie Stabenow, the bill comes in response to the request consumers for greater transparency of food system.
The US Agriculture Department (USDA) will now decide on which ingredients would be considered genetically modified, reported Reuters.
Commenting on the new legislation, Stabenow said: "This bipartisan bill ensures that consumers and families throughout the US will have access, for the first time ever, to information about their food through a mandatory, nationwide label for food products with GMOs.
"Looking forward, it's important that consumers, farmers, food manufacturers, and policy makers come together to address critical issues and pursue our shared goals of improving our food system."
However, the new legislation is being opposed by Vermont Senate Bernie Sanders who claim that it the usage of electronic labels for scanning allowed under the bill could curtail its scope and lead to confusion.
Sanders noted that the bill would pre-empt Vermont's first-in-the-nation law, which requires GMO products to be labeled.
The bill also contains huge loopholes and doesn't impose violation penalties for the labeling requirement.
"Under Vermont's law and my amendment, consumers can glance quickly at a product and be able to determine the GMO contents with no need for a smartphone or internet connection.
"What makes sense is to build on what Vermont has done, not come up with an unenforceable, confusing, weak piece of legislation paid for by the large food corporations in this country."
