The information below has been supplied by dairy marketers and other industry organizations. It has not been edited, verified or endorsed by Hoard’s Dairyman.

In response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) announcement today of its National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard, NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern offered the following comments:

“NMPF is pleased with the bioengineered food disclosure rule’s re-assertion that milk from animals that consume bioengineered feed shouldn’t be subject to mandatory GMO labeling. NMPF told Congress that any regulation requiring the labeling of bioengineered products must be science-based and acknowledge that feeding farm animals grains developed through biotechnology has no effect on the animals or products derived from them. This rule codifies our position.

“It’s important to remember that bioengineered food disclosure rules should be founded in science, and are a measure to regulate food marketing, not food safety. Also, the rule doesn’t fix every problem regarding the labeling of bioengineered products in the marketplace. Misleading absence claims may persist even under this rule, and we urge USDA and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to focus their energy on examining voluntary disclosures and their potential to be false and misleading.”

NMPF is a member of the Coalition for Safe Affordable Food, a group of farm and food organizations that worked together to help pass the labeling law in 2016.

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), based in Arlington, Virginia, develops and carries out policies that advance the well-being of dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. The members of NMPF’s cooperatives produce the majority of the U.S. milk supply, making NMPF the voice of dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. For more on NMPF’s activities, visit our website at www.nmpf.org.