President Barack Obama late last Friday, July 29, quietly  signed into law the bill that will require the nationwide mandatory labeling of genetically modified ingredients (GMOs) in food products.  The bill was passed by both the House and Senate just before they adjourned for summer recess.

The law will require most food packages to carry a text label, a symbol or an electronic code readable by smartphones indicating whether GMOs are present. The legislation directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture to oversee the labeling requirement and the agency has  two years to promulgate the rules to implement the GMO labeling law.  USDA has indicated it has already formed a working group to write the rules that are needed to implement the legislation.

The law nullifies Vermont first-in-the-nation GMO labeling law, which went into effect July 1.  Many major companies have already started disclosing GMO ingredients on product packages in order to prepare to comply with the Vermont law. Advocates for labeling fought the Vermont law to avoid a state-by-state patchwork of laws.  In the end, the food industry mostly supported the bill.  However, some advocates did not support the bill arguing that consumers will have a difficult time with the electronic labels and that there are not enough penalties for companies that do not comply with the law.