IDFA continues to stress dairy industry priorities to officials who are working to finalize the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard. Last week, IDFA subject matter experts spoke with several administrators from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) who are currently reviewing the proposed standard. When final, it will introduce mandatory labeling rules for bioengineered (BE) foods or foods with BE ingredients.

“IDFA has consistently urged the administration to finalize a rule that is transparent to consumers, non-disparaging to biotechnology and flexible enough to allow dairy foods processors to easily understand and comply with the labeling standard,” said Cary Frye, IDFA senior vice president of regulatory affairs, who led the discussion with OMB.

Joining Frye were Danielle Quist, IDFA senior director of regulatory affairs and counsel, and Emily Lyons, IDFA’s outside counsel and associate at Michael Best Friedrich LLP. Executive branch officials participating in the discussion included:

  • Blake Brown, National Economic Council;
  • Brenda Aguilar, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB;
  • Charlie Santerre, Office of Science and Technology Policy;
  • Courtney Higgins, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB; and
  • Meghan McPhaden, OMB.

Kent York, from the Office of Budget and Program Analysis, participated in the discussion as a representative from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Finalizing a Rule

USDA has indicated its plans to finalize the standard as soon as OMB completes its regulatory and interagency review, around Dec. 1. USDA has also voiced its desire to peg the effective date of the Standard to the Food and Drug Administration’s Jan. 1, 2020 effective date for the Nutrition Facts label updates.

“While it would be ideal to have these two labeling requirements align, the delays in completing the standard will leave dairy food processors and other manufacturers with only one year to comply with the new labeling requirements,” said Frye. “In our meeting we strongly encouraged the administration to allow additional time for compliance, allowing manufacturers to use up existing label stock and spread compliance costs over at least an additional 24 months.”

Members with questions may contact Quist at dquist@idfa.org.