The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has developed a new government certification and labeling for foods that are free of genetically modified (GM) ingredients.
The move follows requests from some consumer groups for mandatory labeling of GM organisms (GMO).
Said to be the first of its kind, the new certification will require the GMO-free foods to carry a USDA Process Verified label along with a claim that they are free of GMOs, reported The Associated Press.
The USDA certification is being created through its Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS), which works with interested companies to certify the accuracy of the claims they are making on food packages.
Commenting on the new certification, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said: "Recently, a leading global company asked AMS to help verify that the corn and soybeans it uses in its products are not genetically engineered so that the company could label the products as such.
"AMS worked with the company to develop testing and verification processes to verify the non-GE claim."
Since there are no government labels to certify GMO-free foods, several companies currently use a private label developed by a nonprofit called the Non-GMO Project. The new USDA certification, however, would be voluntary.
The GM seeds are engineered in laboratories to have certain characteristics such as resistance to herbicides. GMO corn and soybeans are made into processed food ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup and soybean oil, however, most of these crops are being used as animal feed.
Image: GMO corn and soybeans are made into processed food ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup and soybean oil. Photo: courtesy of Praisaeng / freedigitalphotos.
