Future GMO products in the US and other countries may be labeled BE instead of GMO. GMO products can have DNA that is traceable, which can make it possible to identify and trace the illegal sale of GMOs such as grains, pulses, tubers and fruit. Such genetic tracing and identification is the laboratory work, which is for sample testing samples of unregistered and illegal GMOs. The customer in the shop or store, on the other hand, must also be able to identify GMOs in a food product that they want to buy or want to avoid buying. This service can be provided with proper labeling. GMO labels on food have given many consumers what they needed to make an informed decision before approving or rejecting the purchase of the product. New developments in genetic engineering can lead to an increase in new plant products on the shelves. Many of these newer innovations will have been gene edited rather than genetically modified.
This new ambiguity of plant cells with their own gene edited (GE), rather than modified with foreign gene inserted (GMO), should provide new and alternative labels for genetically modified plants. GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) or GE (Genetically Engineered) are not wanted by those who market these foods. The term GMO has been used for approx. 40 years. Where foods are from genetically modified crops but without the GMO stamp, it may have had little impact on the sales of these foods made from GMO products. The agricultural marketing service USDA in the USA will in the future define new food products that have had their genes changed through, for example, inserted CRISPR-Cas, as "BE" (BioEngineered). BE smiley symbols, have been suggested as suitable label options, along with an alternative to a crop of BE on the ground symbol.
GMO can mean that the product has now changed genetic material, or is derived from genetically modified plants. This genetic material (DNA) can be found and isolated and identified from the raw products. The final products for many GMO crops are refined products without a significant trace of viable genetic material such as genes and their living enzymes. These include refined products such as oil, flour and sugar, from the seeds of; cotton, rapeseed, soya and maize crops. Genetically modified organism (GMO) can indicate that the organism, e.g. a plant, has been changed in a way where genes from other organisms, e.g. bacteria, have been inserted into their cells. Bioengineered (BE) can indicate that the organism, for example a plant, has been changed by cutting or knocking out a gene with, for example, CRISPR-Cas.
New products that mainly consist of BE derivatives will be obliged to label their product as BE. Multi-ingredient foods may or may not disclose BioEngineered ingredients if these are not the main ingredient. Bioengineering has been legally defined with respect to food, which refers to a food "containing genetic material eg from tomato or potato, which has been modified through in vitro recombinant DNA techniques; and for which the modification could not otherwise be obtained by conventional breeding or found in nature. This means artificially introduced changes in the DNA of a living cell, changes that do not occur naturally. A BE Organism is treated in the EU in the same way as a GM Organism. Current and future genetic engineering such as genetic editing with CRISPR/Cas must therefore also be labeled, if not as GMO, then at least as BE for Bio Engineered by 2022. Alternatively in the USA it is to choose products stamped with “NON GMO”.
Links:
USDA's Proposed Rule on GMO Food Labeling Summary
COMMISSION DIRECTIVE (EU) 2018/350
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