USDA Sued Over Missed Deadline on GMO Labeling Report

USDA is being sued for missing a deadline to issue a report on digital and electronic disclosures under the GMO labeling law. The suit was filed August 25 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California by the Center for Food Safety.Under the GE Labeling Act, USDA was to have issued a report on using electronic means or something other than actual product label to convey the information to consumers. That report was to have been issued by July 29, 2016, according to the suit."In court, statutory directives matter — not tweets," said George Kimbrell, legal director of the Center for Food Safety. "We won't let the Trump administration get away with ignoring the law."USDA is required under law to have its final regulations in place implementing the law two years from its enactment – or by July 29, 2018."Because the results of the electronic/digital link study are a necessary precursor to the development of the final rules, further delay of this process is likely to delay the rules themselves, causing still more harm to the public and the stakeholders, who have already waited many years," the groups said in the suit.