Contact: Peggy Armstrong
parmstrong@idfa.org
202-220-3509

Legislation Needed to Protect Consumers by Eliminating Confusion and Advancing Food Safety

(Washington, D.C. – February 6, 2014) The International Dairy Foods Association today announced that it has joined the newly formed Coalition for Safe Affordable Food (www.CFSAF.org) and is urging Congress to quickly enact federal standards for the labeling of food and beverage products made with ingredients that contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

"Dairy companies are committed to providing consumers a wide array of nutritious products along with the information they are looking for on our product labels," said Connie Tipton, president and CEO of IDFA. "But we need one set of labeling guidelines so that the food industry can effectively share information with consumers."

A federal GMO labeling solution would:

  • Eliminate Confusion: Remove the confusion and uncertainty of a 50 state patchwork of GMO safety and labeling laws and affirm the FDA as the nation’s authority for the use and labeling of genetically modified food ingredients.
  • Inform Consumers: The FDA will establish federal standards for companies that want to voluntarily label their product for the absence-of or presence-of GMO food ingredients so that consumers clearly understand their choices in the marketplace.
  • Provide Consistency: The FDA will define the term “natural” for its use on food and beverage products so that food and beverage companies and consumers have a consistent legal framework that will guide food labels and inform consumer choice.

IDFA believes that our nation’s food labeling laws should be set by the FDA, the nation’s foremost food safety agency.

Facts About GMOs (www.FactsAboutGMOs.org )

  • Many of the most influential regulatory agencies and organizations that study the safety of the food supply, including the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization, Health Canada, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Academy of Sciences, have found genetically modified food ingredients are safe and there are no negative health effects associated with their use.
  • GM technology adds desirable traits from nature, without introducing anything unnatural or using chemicals, so that food is more plentiful.
  • GM technology is not new. In fact, it has been around for the past 20 years, and today, 70-80 percent of the foods we eat in the United States, both at home and away from home, contain ingredients that have been genetically modified.
  • Ingredients grown using GM technology require fewer pesticides, less water and keep production costs down. In fact, GM technology helps reduce the price of animal feed and crops used for food, such as corn, soybeans and sugar beets by as much as 15-30 percent.
  • One in eight people among the world’s growing population of seven billion do not have enough to eat, and safe and effective methods of food production, like crops produced through GM technology, can help us feed the hungry and malnourished in developing nations around the world.

For further information, please visit www.CoalitionForSafeAffordableFood.org .

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About IDFA

The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), Washington, D.C., represents the nation's dairy manufacturing and marketing industries and their suppliers, with a membership of 550 companies within a $125-billion a year industry. IDFA is composed of three constituent organizations: the Milk Industry Foundation (MIF), the National Cheese Institute (NCI) and the International Ice Cream Association (IICA). IDFA's nearly 200 dairy processing members run nearly 600 plant operations, and range from large multi-national organizations to single-plant companies. Together they represent more than 85 percent of the milk, cultured products, cheese, ice cream and frozen desserts produced and marketed in the United States. IDFA can be found online at www.idfa.org.

About the Coalition for Safe Affordable Food

The Coalition for Safe Affordable Food is dedicated to providing policy makers, media, consumers and all stakeholders with the facts about ingredients grown through GM technology. We are also an advocate for common sense policy solutions that will only further enhance the safety of the GM crops and protect the vital role they play in today’s modern global food supply chain. The coalition is comprised of American farmers and representatives from a diverse group of industry and non-governmental organizations.