The debate over how foods produced with gene editing should be labelled is open for discussion with Ottawa.
Canada’s national standard for companies to voluntary label genetically modified foods is currently open for public review. Part of that involves comment on how gene editing should be defined within the standard and where they do, or do not, fit in the rules.
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WHY IT MATTERS: Canada has already ruled that gene-edited plants don’t need to meet the stricter threshold that genetically modified plants do to be approved for cultivation (as long as there’s no foreign DNA involved), and that gene-edited crops are safe for livestock feed. Now, the topic is entering the food labelling arena.
The standard in question is formally titled CAN/CGSB-32.315 Voluntary Labelling and Advertising of Foods That Are and Are Not Products of Genetic Engineering. It provides guidance on how food companies may decide to mark packaging as to whether products are or are not, products of genetic engineering. This standard is maintained by the Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB).
Canada does not require genetically engineered or gene-edited foods to be labelled differently from other foods, according to the federal government’s website. Claims are voluntary, although they must be truthful and not misleading under the Food and Drugs Act and related regulations.
According to the Standards Council of Canada, the purpose of the voluntary labelling standard is to provide a framework for truthful labelling, not to create mandatory requirements.
Edited versus modified
Industry groups such as the Canadian Health Food Association (CHFA) have noted that the federal government’s current proposal would draw a line between gene editing and genetic modification —similar to Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s take on the subject in recent years. Seed and feed guidance in recent years have put gene-edited plants on largely the same regulatory ground as conventionally bred crops, unless foreign genetic material is being incorporated, in which case they’re back to needing a pre-market safety assessment and authorization before they hit the farmer’s field.
Those decisions have drawn ire from the organic sector, worried about contamination with their crops, and praise from much of the rest of the seed sector as a gateway to faster innovation and variety development.
The CHFA, meanwhile, says the new label proposal could allow foods made with gene-editing techniques to be marketed as not genetically engineered, despite gene editing being a form of genetic modification in scientific terms.
In a CHFA report released in October, the association argued that a majority of Canadians surveyed by the study believed gene editing is a form of genetic engineering and that labelling should disclose its use.
