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OCA: BE labels will confuse consumers

A leader with the Organic Consumers Association says the USDA’s proposal to put bioengineered (BE) on food labels instead of the term “GMO” will only confuse consumers.

“BE (bioengineered), that is clearly not what consumers recognize and understand,” she says.

Katherine Paul, the associate director of the organization, says the proposed rule includes loopholes for the threshold of bioengineered ingredients that must be disclosed. She tells Brownfield it also allows foodmakers to use smart labels.

“We should not be excluding CRISPR technology and all these other GMO 2.0 technologies,” she says. “We should have higher thresholds, not lower, and we should have clear labels on the packaging.”

The GMO labeling law was signed in 2016 after several states began requiring their own labeling standards. It gave the USDA two years to develop a national standard.

Paul says the OCA will continue to be vocal during the public comment period for the proposed rule.

Audio: Katherine Paul, Organic Consumers Association