Possibility of amending agricultural marketing services, bioengineered food stands

On April 10, 2024, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a Request for Information (RFI) regarding possible amendments to the electronic or digital link disclosure option related to the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure. did. Standard. 89 Federal Government.Registration 25187. There is a deadline for responding. June 10, 2024.

background

The Agricultural Products Marketing Act, as amended in 2016, allows food to be bioengineered (BE), defined as food that contains detectable genetic material, or has the potential to contain detectable genetic material, subject to certain factors, conditions, and restrictions. Requires the Department of Agriculture to establish national mandatory standards for disclosure.modified material in vitro Recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (rDNA) technology, a modification that cannot be obtained in any other way through conventional breeding or found in nature. The revised law requires USDA to implement three BE food disclosure options, with the disclosure options to be selected by food manufacturers. symbol on the package. or electronic or digital links. After determining in 2018 that consumers do not have sufficient access to BE food disclosures by electronic or digital means under normal shopping conditions, AMS added a text message disclosure option to 7 CFR section 66.108. In September 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California held that providing a text message disclosure option as an additional equivalent option was outside AMS's statutory authority and that access to BE disclosures by email was inadequate. The court ruled that the issue had not been addressed. or a digital link disclosure option. The court concluded that additional equivalent disclosure options should be included in electronic or digital link disclosures and ordered AMS to reconsider the requirements of § 66.106 and § 66.108.

Request for Information (RFI) regarding disclosure of electronic and digital links

AMS states that it is reevaluating the electronic or digital link disclosure option in 7 CFR section 66.106 and is seeking public comment on potential revisions to the electronic or digital link disclosure option related to the standard. AMS asks interested parties to answer the questions below and, if possible, provide data or other evidence to support the proposed revisions. Please note that AMS will not consider comments that provide recommendations that are not related to the questions or requests below.

1. What are the current challenges associated with consumers accessing information about food BE status through electronic or digital link disclosures at the retail point of sale?
2. If a regulated entity chooses to use electronic or digital links to disclose BE foods, AMS will determine what additional comparable options to electronic or digital link disclosure options will be more useful to consumers. Should I add one? Where should I place the additional equivalent option near the electronic or digital link?
3. Where possible, provide information about the consumer's current smartphone ownership. Background: AMS is concerned with the availability of wireless Internet or cellular networks. According to AMS research, most Americans (97%) owned some type of mobile phone in 2021, with smartphone ownership at 85%. Specifically, the Pew Research Center found that 89 percent of U.S. urban adults, 84 percent of suburban adults, and 80 percent of rural adults own smartphones. Pew Research Center also found that 61% of individuals age 65 and older own a smartphone.
4. Where possible, provide information regarding broadband availability at retail stores. This could include direct-to-consumer broadband and access to other private networks at retail stores.
5. Provides up-to-date information on consumer usage of BE or other electronic or digital links in retail environments. Background: AMS seeks to determine whether access to information through electronic and digital disclosures is common in retail settings. In addition to grocery stores, the response could also include use in restaurants and related retail sectors.
6. Describe the advantages and benefits of using electronic or digital link disclosure options.
7. Please provide available information regarding the current usage rates of each of the four disclosure options. Additionally, please provide information on the number of small businesses using each of the four disclosure options. Background: AMS evaluates the costs that rulemaking imposes on regulated entities by type of disclosure option and provides additional data on the number of products using each of the four options currently available in the market. I'm looking for.
8. On average, how long does it take to update label art, print new labels, and deploy new labels to the production line? How often are labels reordered and label inventory refreshed? For retail products? Is there a standard cycle for updating labels? How often is a retailer's product inventory updated? What is the desired optimal compliance period for incorporating new mandatory disclosures into retail products? ?