by Ken Root and Whitney Flach
Listen Here: Profit Matters 7-5-16
July 1st, was a particularly important day because Vermont law required all products with genetically modified ingredients to either be labeled on the package or face substantial penalties.
However, Vermont Retailers aren?t ready for the law to go into effect. Companies in the state have been scrambling to figure out how to be in compliance for months.
Jim Harrison is President of the Vermont Retailers and Grocers Association, and he says most businesses who need to be in compliance with the law within state borders aren?t ready to go. There are a couple of reasons that businesses may be behind in coming into compliance. Harrison says, ?It is more complicated than people realize, and a lot of retailers that have assumed that this applies to the major manufacturers not to them. Come to find out, the retailer is the manufacturer on things that they process in the store.?
Companies from out of state that do business in Vermont are also struggling to come into compliance with the new state law. Other industry members, may have thought there would be federal law coming out of Washington D.C. that would supersede state law. Companies that aren?t in compliance last Friday will be given some leniency from the Vermont Attorney.
Labels will use one of three phrases: ?Produced with Genetic Engineering,? ?Partly produced with genetic engineering,? if it?s less than 75 percent of the product, or it can say ?May be produced with genetic engineering? if you can?t find out how the ingredients were produced by other manufacturers after doing due diligence.
