The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) wants to ensure that consumers receive clear and accurate information about their food. As the U.S. Department of Agriculture moves forward preparing a regulatory standard for labeling, NMPF has filed a comment supporting a strict, science-based approach to the regulation of foods made with bioengineering.
Since bioengineered foods have repeatedly been found to be completely safe by both domestic and international science and research organizations, NMPF said the new standard under review by USDA should focus on providing consumers accurate information, while discouraging misleading marketing tactics or meaningless absence claims.
There is “irrefutable scientific evidence that such foods are safe and not materially different from their conventional counterparts,” said NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern. However, he said, too many food companies utilize “fear-mongering” to vilify food biotechnology, as they seek to profit from the consumer confusion surrounding its use. “We’ve long stood unequivocally behind the science that foods made through approved biotechnology techniques are completely safe, and have been since the first government approvals more than 20 years ago.”