Dive Brief:
- U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack might be onto something with an idea — one that he has actually brought up before — that smartphones could scan items in the grocery store and let consumers know about their food, including a biggie: whether it contains GMOs.
- The real realm of power mostly belongs to the Food and Drug Administration when it comes to food labeling (i.e. Vilsack's thought "isn't an official proposal") and an FDA spokeswoman called this thought "not currently under discussion" there, according to the Associated Press.
- Vilsack said some food companies have expressed interest in the idea, but didn't give specific examples. Apparently, the Grocery Manufacturers Association and The Hershey Co. could be onto something as well with comparable visions.
Dive Insight:
"A bar code seems the best way of doing it without picking sides," Vilsack added.
However, not everyone feels that way. "Consumers shouldn't have to have a high-tech smartphone and a 10-gigabyte data plan to know what's in their food," said Scott Faber, the head of the national Just Label It campaign.
This could certainly be something at the forefront of GMO labeling, an issue that continues to see its fair share of the spotlight and likely will for some time.