{"id":40521,"date":"2025-12-22T00:01:34","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T05:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=40521"},"modified":"2025-12-21T00:49:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T05:49:09","slug":"usdas-bioengineered-food-label-language-called-misleading-upheld-in-court-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2025\/12\/usdas-bioengineered-food-label-language-called-misleading-upheld-in-court-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"USDA\u2019s \u201cBioengineered\u201d Food Label Language, Called Misleading, Upheld in Court Decision"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p>(<em>Beyond Pesticides<\/em>, December 22, 2025) After a U.S. Court of Appeals Court decision in October that upheld the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s (USDA) \u201cbioengineered\u201d food label language, Beyond Pesticides with people across the country renewed their call for truth in labeling\u2014so that consumers clearly understand when products contain genetically engineered ingredients. The label requirement became law under the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/114\/plaws\/publ216\/PLAW-114publ216.pdf\">National Bioengineered \u00a0Food Disclosure Standard<\/a> in 2016. When USDA proposed the bioengineered label, Beyond Pesticides told the agency in 2017, \u201cSince many consumers may not know or understand the term bioengineering, there should be allowable interchangeable terms for the disclosure standard. These include the terms: genetically engineered, genetically modified organism, and GMO.\u201d Beyond Pesticides issued an action to: \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/secure.everyaction.com\/Xv7IvbXQq0Wi0HTaxr1DwQ2?contactdata=XwduGNURm96OtX%2flbtReN3OGNxG8SIU06ZQ00Bk5mTV2lqfgpwKKVtJR6%2fu26phWX2f+Yh7MxrteSQxcqgbysyIopE1%2fsessmFKvZAhUletgakbPSK44%2frAWDWZSwl3WfTJkLy9x%2fUmxsy3oIl4%2fTRd9QrxkOIqIUvVnTk59SSqFXx+BdSFpEHRL3TU8LB02LAcH3uTnwgyF6WmJeULnh0HgNbkWsvT6%2fiYqzvIJosUzHjKn7AnDap8LUvL8ODMHKoHpI+rqiU6FjZcIoz6a1CsvZsbixhPOcFwu7BsRIAQ%3d&amp;emci=51f5d3b7-15dd-f011-8194-000d3a1ec8c6&amp;emdi=abf1c598-b4dd-f011-8194-000d3a1ec8c6&amp;ceid=13322898##anchor\">Tell USDA to require full disclosure of genetically engineered ingredients, using terms understandable to consumers.<\/a>\u201c<\/p>\r\n<p>At the same time, the court ruled that USDA had failed to properly implement the law in allowing manufactures to provide label ingredient with a reference to the availability of electronic information. After a 2024\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.centerforfoodsafety.org\/files\/2024-12-02--ecf-81--order-re-summary-judgment_44232.pdf\">decision<\/a>\u00a0by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2025\/01\/federal-court-reverses-genetically-engineered-crop-deregulation-adopted-by-first-trump-administration\/\">overturning<\/a>\u00a0rules\u00a0issued under the first Trump administration that, according to\u00a0the Center for Food Safety (CFS),\u00a0\u201cpractically eliminate oversight of novel GE technology and instead let industry self-regulate,\u201d\u00a0the U.S.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.centerforfoodsafety.org\/files\/22-16770_bioengineered-foods-appeal-decision_29567.pdf\">Court of Appeals<\/a>\u00a0for the Ninth Circuit ruled in October for the plaintiffs on providing general public access to information on genetically engineered products. The decision\u00a0overturns\u00a0a 2018 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) final rule\u00a0permitting\u00a0the use of a \u201cQR code\u201d or smartphone labeling for food products made with genetically modified organisms. The case was filed by the Center for Food Safety on behalf of a coalition of public interest organizations and grocers, including\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.naturalgrocers.com\/parks-for-sustainable-future\">Natural Grocers<\/a>, Citizens for GMO Labeling, Label GMOs, Rural Vermont, Good Earth Natural Foods, Puget Consumers Co-Op, and National Organic Coalition.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>While the court decision takes\u00a0an important step\u00a0towards transparency by requiring labeling revealing \u201cbioengineered\u201d ingredients, the failure to require the use of terms readily understood by consumers\u2014\u201cgenetically engineered\u201d or \u201cgenetically modified\u201d (or \u201cGMO\u201d)\u2014falls short of full disclosure.\u00a0In the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/114\/plaws\/publ216\/PLAW-114publ216.pdf\">disclosure law<\/a>, the term \u201cbioengineering\u201d refers to a food that has been genetically modified in a way that could not be obtained through conventional breeding or found in nature, the same\u00a0as the\u00a0meaning\u00a0of\u00a0terms\u00a0genetically engineered, genetically modified organism, and GMO,\u00a0that\u00a0have been used consistently by\u00a0USDA&#8217;s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS)\u00a0in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ams.usda.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/media\/MSExcludedMethodsFinalRecApril2022.pdf\">National Organic Program<\/a>\u00a0regulations and communications.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p><u>In USDA regulations:<\/u><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>The definition of \u201cbioengineering\u201d must include all forms of genetic engineering, including newer forms like CRISPR and\u00a0RNA interference (RNAi). Definitions should be compatible with those recommended by the National Organic Standards Board.\u00a0<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Each GE ingredient must be\u00a0identified,\u00a0including highly refined GE sugars and\u00a0oils\u00a0and processed corn and soy ingredients.\u00a0Even if they are so highly processed that the GE ingredients are present only at undetectable levels in the final product,\u00a0they are still GE foods.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\r\n\t<li>GE ingredients must be\u00a0identified\u00a0on product labels, or product shelves in the case of raw foods. All products\u00a0required\u00a0to label ingredients should include identification of GE ingredients on the label.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>There is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/resources\/pesticide-induced-diseases-database\/genetic-engineering\/overview\">significant peer-reviewed evidence<\/a>\u00a0documenting\u00a0the impacts of genetically modified organisms\u00a0on health\u00a0and biodiversity, as well as research on the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/programs\/organic-agriculture\/why-organic\/health-benefits\">health<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/programs\/organic-agriculture\/why-organic\/environmental-benefits\">environmental<\/a>\u00a0benefits of organically managed farmland.\u00a0There are alternatives to genetically engineered crops that\u00a0promote dependence on chemical fertilizers and pesticides in\u00a0industrial monoculture agriculture.\u00a0Organic systems can compete, and even outpace, conventional systems after a transition period, including corn and soybean fields, as documented in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2025\/12\/usda-study-reports-pollution-control-and-productivity-in-organic-ag-outpaces-chemical-intensive-ag\/\">recent research<\/a>\u00a0published by USDA researchers in Ames, Iowa.\u00a0Therefore, labeling at the\u00a0consumer level should be clear enough for consumers to\u00a0identify\u00a0products produced with genetically engineered ingredients and weigh their costs and benefits against organic alternatives.<\/p>\r\n<p><strong><u>Letter to USDA<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p>After a 2024 decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California overturning rules issued under the first Trump administration that, according to the Center for Food Safety (CFS), \u201cpractically eliminate oversight of novel GE technology and instead let industry self-regulate,\u201d the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in October for the plaintiffs on providing general public access to information on genetically engineered products. The decision overturns a 2016 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rule permitting the use of a \u201cQR code\u201d or smartphone labeling for food products made with genetically modified organisms. However, missing from the court\u2019s decision is direction to clarify the use of the misleading term \u201cbioengineered.\u201d Given the general public\u2019s understanding of the common usage of \u201cgenetically engineered\u201d or \u201cgenetically modified,\u201d I request that USDA require the use of more generally understood terms on product labels.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>While the court decision takes an important step towards transparency by requiring labeling revealing \u201cbioengineered\u201d ingredients, the failure to require the use of terms readily understood by consumers\u2014\u201cgenetically engineered\u201d or \u201cgenetically modified\u201d (or \u201cGMO\u201d)\u2014falls short of full disclosure. In the disclosure law, the term \u201cbioengineering\u201d refers to a food that has been genetically modified in a way that could not be obtained through conventional breeding or found in nature, the same as the meaning of terms genetically engineered, genetically modified organism, and GMO, that have been used consistently by USDA\u2019s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) in National Organic Program regulations and communications.<\/p>\r\n<p>In USDA regulations:<\/p>\r\n<p>The definition of \u201cbioengineering\u201d must include all forms of genetic engineering, including newer forms like CRISPR and RNA interference (RNAi). Definitions should be compatible with those recommended by the National Organic Standards Board.<\/p>\r\n<p>Each GE ingredient must be identified, including highly refined GE sugars and oils and processed corn and soy ingredients. Even if they are so highly processed that the GE ingredients are present only at undetectable levels in the final product, they are still GE foods.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>GE ingredients must be identified on product labels, or product shelves in the case of raw foods. All products required to label ingredients should include identification of GE ingredients on the label.<\/p>\r\n<p>There is significant peer-reviewed evidence documenting the impacts of genetically modified organisms on health and biodiversity, as well as research on the health and environmental benefits of organically managed farmland. There are alternatives to genetically engineered crops that promote dependence on chemical fertilizers and pesticides in industrial monoculture agriculture. Organic systems can compete, and even outpace, conventional systems after a transition period, including corn and soybean fields, as documented in recent research published by USDA researchers in Ames, Iowa. Therefore, labeling at the consumer level should be clear enough for consumers to identify products produced with genetically engineered ingredients and weigh their costs and benefits against organic alternatives.<\/p>\r\n<p>Please adopt regulations that require the use of more generally understood terms\u2014\u201cgenetically engineered\u201d or \u201cgenetically modified\u201d (or \u201cGMO\u201d)\u2014on product labels.<\/p>\r\n<p>Thank you.<\/p>\r\n<p><em>All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.<\/em><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Beyond Pesticides, December 22, 2025) After a U.S. Court of Appeals Court decision in October that upheld the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s (USDA) \u201cbioengineered\u201d food label language, Beyond Pesticides with people across the country renewed their call for truth in labeling\u2014so that consumers clearly understand when products contain genetically engineered ingredients. The label requirement became law under the National Bioengineered \u00a0Food Disclosure Standard in 2016. When USDA proposed the bioengineered label, Beyond Pesticides told the agency in 2017, \u201cSince many consumers may not know or understand the term bioengineering, there should be allowable interchangeable terms for the disclosure standard. These include the terms: genetically engineered, genetically modified organism, and GMO.\u201d Beyond Pesticides issued an action to: \u201cTell USDA to require full disclosure of genetically engineered ingredients, using terms understandable to consumers.\u201c At the same time, the court ruled that USDA had failed to properly implement the law in allowing manufactures to provide label ingredient with a reference to the availability of electronic information. After a 2024\u00a0decision\u00a0by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California\u00a0overturning\u00a0rules\u00a0issued under the first Trump administration that, according to\u00a0the Center for Food Safety (CFS),\u00a0\u201cpractically eliminate oversight of novel GE technology and instead let industry self-regulate,\u201d\u00a0the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[249,5,309,1,368],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-genetic-engineering","category-labeling","category-uncategorized","category-us-department-of-agriculture-usda"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>USDA\u2019s \u201cBioengineered\u201d Food Label Language, Called Misleading, Upheld in Court Decision - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2025\/12\/usdas-bioengineered-food-label-language-called-misleading-upheld-in-court-decision\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"USDA\u2019s \u201cBioengineered\u201d Food Label Language, Called Misleading, Upheld in Court Decision - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(Beyond Pesticides, December 22, 2025) After a U.S. Court of Appeals Court decision in October that upheld the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s (USDA) \u201cbioengineered\u201d food label language, Beyond Pesticides with people across the country renewed their call for truth in labeling\u2014so that consumers clearly understand when products contain genetically engineered ingredients. The label requirement became law under the National Bioengineered \u00a0Food Disclosure Standard in 2016. When USDA proposed the bioengineered label, Beyond Pesticides told the agency in 2017, \u201cSince many consumers may not know or understand the term bioengineering, there should be allowable interchangeable terms for the disclosure standard. These include the terms: genetically engineered, genetically modified organism, and GMO.\u201d Beyond Pesticides issued an action to: \u201cTell USDA to require full disclosure of genetically engineered ingredients, using terms understandable to consumers.\u201c At the same time, the court ruled that USDA had failed to properly implement the law in allowing manufactures to provide label ingredient with a reference to the availability of electronic information. After a 2024\u00a0decision\u00a0by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California\u00a0overturning\u00a0rules\u00a0issued under the first Trump administration that, according to\u00a0the Center for Food Safety (CFS),\u00a0\u201cpractically eliminate oversight of novel GE technology and instead let industry self-regulate,\u201d\u00a0the [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2025\/12\/usdas-bioengineered-food-label-language-called-misleading-upheld-in-court-decision\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-22T05:01:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GEcrops-1024x576.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Beyond Pesticides\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ByondPesticides\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ByondPesticides\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Beyond Pesticides\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2025\/12\/usdas-bioengineered-food-label-language-called-misleading-upheld-in-court-decision\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2025\/12\/usdas-bioengineered-food-label-language-called-misleading-upheld-in-court-decision\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Beyond Pesticides\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5c0a0981b549cc5b628770073031f4\"},\"headline\":\"USDA\u2019s \u201cBioengineered\u201d Food Label Language, Called Misleading, Upheld in Court Decision\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-22T05:01:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2025\/12\/usdas-bioengineered-food-label-language-called-misleading-upheld-in-court-decision\/\"},\"wordCount\":1158,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2025\/12\/usdas-bioengineered-food-label-language-called-misleading-upheld-in-court-decision\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GEcrops.png\",\"articleSection\":{\"0\":\"Agriculture\",\"1\":\"Genetic Engineering\",\"2\":\"Labeling\",\"4\":\"US Department of Agriculture (USDA)\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2025\/12\/usdas-bioengineered-food-label-language-called-misleading-upheld-in-court-decision\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2025\/12\/usdas-bioengineered-food-label-language-called-misleading-upheld-in-court-decision\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2025\/12\/usdas-bioengineered-food-label-language-called-misleading-upheld-in-court-decision\/\",\"name\":\"USDA\u2019s \u201cBioengineered\u201d Food Label Language, Called Misleading, Upheld in Court Decision - 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The founders, who established Beyond Pesticides (originally as National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides) as a nonprofit membership organization in 1981, felt that without the existence of such an organized, national network, local, state and national pesticide policy would become, under chemical industry pressure, increasingly unresponsive to public health and environmental concerns. Beyond Pesticides believes that people must have a voice in decisions that affect them directly. We believe decisions should not be made for us by chemical companies or by decision-makers who either do not have all of the facts or refuse to consider them. Learn more about our work, read A Year in Review\u20142021, our accomplishments are your victories! Beyond Pesticides seeks to protect healthy air, water, land, and food for ourselves and future generations. By forging ties with governments, nonprofits, and people who rely on these natural resources, we reduce the need for unnecessary pesticide use and protect public health and the environment. Beyond Pesticides provides hands-on services to the public and supports local action by: identifying and interpreting hazards; and, designing safe pest management programs. With the information provided by Beyond Pesticides, people may not only be able to make informed choices and adopt practices that protect themselves and their families from unnecessary exposure to pesticides, but they will be able to effect changes on community-wide pest management decisions and policies that govern pesticide use, such as pesticide uses in parks, schools, for community insect control and along roadsides. 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The label requirement became law under the National Bioengineered \u00a0Food Disclosure Standard in 2016. When USDA proposed the bioengineered label, Beyond Pesticides told the agency in 2017, \u201cSince many consumers may not know or understand the term bioengineering, there should be allowable interchangeable terms for the disclosure standard. These include the terms: genetically engineered, genetically modified organism, and GMO.\u201d Beyond Pesticides issued an action to: \u201cTell USDA to require full disclosure of genetically engineered ingredients, using terms understandable to consumers.\u201c At the same time, the court ruled that USDA had failed to properly implement the law in allowing manufactures to provide label ingredient with a reference to the availability of electronic information. 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