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General MIlls to start labeling biotech products

[/title][fusion_text]Monday, March 21st 2016

With lawmakers struggling to agree on national GMO disclsoure standards, General Mills Inc. announced that it will start labeling its products for biotech ingredients as required by a Vermont law set to take effect this summer. The General Mills announcement, which follows a decision by Campbell Soup Co. in January, comes as legislation to preempt state GMO labeling laws has stalled in the Senate. Negotiations are ongoing on a compromise version of the legislation, but the Senate broke Thursday for its two-week Easter recess without a resolution to the issue. The move by General Mills could serve to increase pressure on senators to reach a compromise. The Vermont law, which takes effect July 1, requires foods that have biotech ingredients to be labeled as produced or partially produced with genetic engineering. The food industry has been lobbying the Senate to allow companies to disclose GMO (genetically modified) ingredients and a variety of product attributes on the web, call centers and a smartphone-based system, SmartLabel. Many Senate Democrats have insisted that the disclosure be mandatory and that labels include a symbol or wording that makes clear foods contain genetically engineered ingredients. Industry officials are concerned such wording or symbols would demonize biotechnology. Democrats blocked advancement of a preemption bill on Wednesday on a vote of 48-49. Sixty votes were needed to move the legislation, and leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee still appear to be far apart on resolving the issue. General Mills is based in Minneapolis, in Minnesota, the home state of two key senators seen as potential Democratic supporters of a preemption bill, Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken. Both voted against the cloture motion.

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