US Considering Public Petitions on Mandatory GMO Labeling – White House

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is in the process of reviewing two public petitions in support of mandatory labeling of foods with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), the White House website said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Two public petitions requiring all genetically modified foods on the US market to be labeled as such were published in September 2011 and April 2012 and have since gathered over 180,000 signatures of US citizens.

"The FDA has received two Citizen Petitions about the labeling of genetically engineered foods. It's in the process of reviewing those petitions and considering the issues presented," White House officials said in response to the petitions.

Currently, US food manufacturers using genetic engineering are not obliged to label their products as GMOs but can voluntarily display labels following an FDA-issued draft guidance.

The White House statement noted that consumers can identify food produced without genetically engineered ingredients through the US Department of Agriculture's National Organic Program, which labels some of the GMO-free products.

Over 60 countries currently require manufacturers to label foods containing GMO ingredients. US legislation requires GMO labeling on foods only if they are decreed to be unsafe by the FDA.