NSAC's Blog
January 2, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Reana KovalcikNational Sustainable Agriculture CoalitionP: 202-547-5754, E: rkovalcik@sustainableagriculture.net Additional Clarity on Animal Raising Label Claims in Time for the New Year New guidelines will better uphold the integrity of organic, grass-fed, and pastured products Washington, DC, January 2, 2020 – Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) […]
January 8, 2019
The new year may seem off to a sluggish start with the partial government shutdown stalling programs and delaying implementation of the 2018 Farm Bill, but there is some new news out there. At the end of 2018, the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service’s (AMS) highly anticipated “GMO” labeling rule was […]
July 3, 2018
The members of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) care deeply about ensuring the integrity of agricultural product labeling claims on behalf of consumers and producers. For this reason, NSAC submitted comments in response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) GMO Labeling Proposed Rule. Today is the last day to submit comments. Many of the […]
May 14, 2018
The long awaited GMO labeling proposed rule is finally out for public comment. As you may recall from prior posts, Congress had previously directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to set up a national disclosure standard for “bioengineered” (aka genetically modified “GMO” or genetically engineered “GE” ) foods by July […]
October 25, 2016
Food labeling claims are a confusing mix of simple words whose meaning is anything but, and complex certifications that even some in the food industry would struggle to fully explain. Local, organic, natural, grassfed, non-GMO – figuring out what each means and which claims are actually verified is enough to give the most savvy […]
September 6, 2016
In late July, President Obama signed into law Congress’ much contested GMO Labeling law, creating a mandatory disclosure requirement for “bioengineered” foods and directing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to develop regulations and standards to carry out the requirement. Now that the law has been finalized, the long process of rulemaking and implementation begins. […]
August 4, 2016
As you have likely heard by now, on Friday, July 29, 2016 President Obama signed into law the GMO Labeling bill recently passed by Congress. This law preempts Vermont’s first-of-its-kind GMO Labeling law, which had just gone into effect on July 1, and authorizes the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to develop a mandatory disclosure […]
July 14, 2016
The tug-of-war over GMO (genetically modified organisms) labeling is nearly over as this week Congress has finally agreed upon and sent a bill to the President’s desk. On Thursday July 14, 2016, the House of Representatives passed, by a 306-117 margin, the GMO labeling bill (S. 764) crafted by Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Pat Roberts […]
July 8, 2016
For months, the Senate has struggled to reach agreement on a “GMO labeling bill”, which would determine if and how genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are marked on food packaging. The pressure became especially intense as legislators worked to beat pending mandatory GMO labeling legislation in Vermont, which officially became effective July 1, 2016. After defeating a weak version of […]
June 30, 2016
The ongoing legislative battle around the labeling of genetically engineered (GE) or genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has reached a turning point. Despite serious concerns about confusing, inconsistent language and potential loopholes that would limit the bill’s scope being raised in a June 27 Food and Drug Administration’s Technical Assistance document prepared for Congress, a GMO […]