Dive Brief:
- A new bill in the Alaska legislature, House Bill 92, would require food companies to label their products to say whether they use GMO ingredients or not.
- In the past, Alaska has been more focused on genetically-modified animals, such as its GMO salmon, known by some as "Frankenfish," which is awaiting federal approval by the FDA.
- Instead of mandatory GMO labeling laws, Idaho legislators passed a resolution to request that the federal government pursue a voluntary labeling initiative instead.
Dive Insight:
GMO foods and labeling legislation have been an enormous issue thus far in 2015, and concerns and the divide between GMO proponents and opponents don't seem to be going away anytime soon. To remedy that split, the USDA hosted a two-day summit last week to bring the two sides together and find some common ground. This attempt didn't appear to accomplish much.