The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to finalize GMO disclosure standards within a nine-month time frame, what Politico calls a breakneck pace for any rulemaking. USDA in that timeframe will go from proposing the regulation to finalizing the rules. That includes a likely three-month comment period, revisions, and White House approval, a process that also takes about three months. A senior analyst at the Agricultural Marketing Service’s Livestock, Poultry and Seed program told the International Dairy Foods Association’s regulatory conference in Washington on this week that USDA has started to meet with farm, food and other groups in preparation to write the proposed rule, though it won’t follow through with the prior administration’s plan to make a public request for information. Politico suspects the rule will likely be challenged in court, no matter the outcome, because of the lack of public request for information.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.