The New Bioengineered Food Label Explained
If you have been grocery shopping recently, you have likely noticed a new disclosure on many food packages: a small green symbol with the text "bioengineered" or a statement reading "contains a bioengineered food ingredient." This labeling is the result of the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (NBFDS), a federal law that went into full mandatory effect on January 1, 2022, requiring food manufacturers to disclose the presence of bioengineered ingredients in their products.
The term "bioengineered" is the official regulatory language chosen by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to describe what most consumers know as genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. Under the NBFDS, a bioengineered food is defined as a food that contains genetic material that has been modified through in vitro recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) techniques and for which the modification could not otherwise be obtained through conventional breeding or found in nature.
This definition is precise and intentional. It distinguishes between foods that have been directly modified at the DNA level using laboratory techniques and those that have been developed through traditional crossbreeding, selective breeding, or natural mutation. Understanding this distinction is key to interpreting the new labels correctly and making informed decisions about the foods you purchase and consume.
How Bioengineered Foods Differ from Traditional Breeding
Humans have been modifying the genetic characteristics of food crops and animals for thousands of years through selective breeding and crossbreeding. Ancient farmers saved seeds from their best-performing plants and bred animals with desirable traits, gradually shaping the foods we eat today. Modern corn, for example, bears almost no resemblance to its wild ancestor, teosinte, which was a small grass with tiny, hard kernels. This transformation occurred over thousands of years of selective breeding.
Bioengineering, also known as genetic engineering, takes a fundamentally different approach. Instead of waiting for desirable traits to emerge naturally through breeding over many generations, scientists directly modify an organism's DNA in a laboratory. This can involve inserting a gene from a completely different species to confer a specific trait, silencing an existing gene to remove an undesirable characteristic, or making precise edits to the organism's own genetic code.
For example, Bt corn has been engineered to produce a protein from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis that is toxic to certain insect pests but harmless to humans. This trait would never occur through traditional breeding because bacteria and corn cannot naturally crossbreed. Similarly, Rainbow papaya was engineered to resist the papaya ringspot virus by incorporating a small piece of the virus's own coat protein gene, effectively vaccinating the plant against the disease that was devastating Hawaiian papaya crops.
The key distinction is that bioengineering allows scientists to introduce specific, targeted genetic changes that would be impossible or impractical to achieve through conventional methods, and it can be done in a single generation rather than over decades or centuries of selective breeding.
Common Bioengineered Foods in the American Diet
A relatively small number of crop species account for the vast majority of bioengineered foods in the food supply. However, because these crops are used as ingredients in a huge number of processed foods, the reach of bioengineered ingredients extends far beyond what most consumers realize.
Corn is the most widely grown bioengineered crop in the United States, with approximately 92 percent of all corn planted being bioengineered varieties. Corn and its derivatives, including corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, corn starch, corn oil, and corn meal, are ingredients in thousands of processed food products from soft drinks and candy to bread and salad dressings.
Soybeans are the second most prevalent bioengineered crop, with about 94 percent of U.S. soybeans being bioengineered. Soy-derived ingredients like soybean oil, soy lecithin, soy protein, and soy flour appear in an enormous range of processed foods, baked goods, snack foods, and even infant formulas.
Sugar beets account for approximately 55 percent of the sugar produced in the United States, and roughly 100 percent of sugar beets grown in the U.S. are bioengineered varieties. Unless a sugar product is specifically labeled as "cane sugar," there is a high probability it was derived from bioengineered sugar beets.
Cotton might seem like an unusual entry on a food list, but cottonseed oil is a common cooking oil and food ingredient, and about 96 percent of U.S. cotton is bioengineered. Canola (about 95 percent bioengineered) produces canola oil, one of the most widely used cooking oils. Other bioengineered crops available in the U.S. include certain varieties of papaya, squash, apples (Arctic varieties), potatoes (Innate varieties), and pink pineapple (Pinkglow by Del Monte).
How the Bioengineered Labeling Standard Works
The NBFDS establishes specific requirements for how food manufacturers must disclose bioengineered ingredients, while also providing some flexibility in the format of that disclosure. Understanding these requirements helps consumers know what to look for on food packaging.
Manufacturers can choose from several disclosure options. The most visible is the USDA-designed symbol, a green circle containing a sun over farmland with the word "bioengineered" written below. This symbol can indicate either that the food itself is bioengineered (such as a bag of bioengineered corn) or that it contains bioengineered food ingredients (such as a cereal made with bioengineered corn).
Alternatively, manufacturers can use a text-only disclosure that states "bioengineered food" or "contains a bioengineered food ingredient." They can also provide a QR code on the package that consumers can scan with their smartphone to access disclosure information online, or they can include a phone number or website URL where consumers can find the information.
The law includes some notable exemptions. Foods derived from animals that ate bioengineered feed (such as meat, milk, and eggs from animals fed bioengineered corn or soy) are not required to carry a bioengineered disclosure. Very small food manufacturers are exempt from the labeling requirement. Foods served in restaurants and similar food service establishments are also exempt.
Additionally, highly refined products where the bioengineering is no longer detectable in the final product occupy a gray area. Refined oils, sugars, and starches derived from bioengineered crops may not contain detectable modified DNA in the finished product, and the NBFDS does not require disclosure for these items if the modification is undetectable, though some manufacturers voluntarily disclose anyway.
The Science on Safety of Bioengineered Foods
The safety of bioengineered foods has been one of the most extensively studied topics in food science over the past three decades. The overwhelming scientific consensus, supported by thousands of studies and the positions of major scientific organizations worldwide, is that currently available bioengineered foods are safe to eat and do not pose unique health risks compared to their conventionally bred counterparts.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine conducted a comprehensive review of over 900 studies and published a landmark report in 2016 concluding that there is no substantiated evidence of a difference in health risks between currently commercialized bioengineered crops and conventionally bred crops. The World Health Organization states that bioengineered foods currently available on the international market have passed safety assessments and are not likely to present risks for human health.
The American Medical Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the European Commission (based on 25 years of research involving more than 500 independent research groups), and virtually every major scientific organization that has examined the evidence have reached similar conclusions about the safety of approved bioengineered foods.
Before any bioengineered food can enter the U.S. market, it must undergo rigorous safety assessment by the FDA, USDA, and EPA (if it involves pesticide-related traits). This multi-agency review process evaluates the food for potential allergenicity, toxicity, nutritional changes, and environmental impacts. The review process typically takes 7 to 10 years from initial development to market approval.
Environmental Considerations
The environmental impact of bioengineered crops is a more nuanced discussion than the human safety question. Bioengineered crops have delivered measurable environmental benefits in some areas while raising concerns in others.
On the positive side, insect-resistant bioengineered crops (Bt crops) have significantly reduced the use of chemical insecticides. A meta-analysis published in the journal PLOS ONE found that bioengineered crops reduced chemical pesticide use by 37 percent, increased crop yields by 22 percent, and increased farmer profits by 68 percent compared to conventional crops. Herbicide-tolerant crops have enabled the widespread adoption of no-till farming practices, which reduce soil erosion, improve soil health, and decrease carbon emissions from farm equipment.
On the other hand, the heavy reliance on herbicide-tolerant crops has led to the evolution of herbicide-resistant weeds, commonly called superweeds, which now require additional management strategies and sometimes the use of additional herbicides. There are also ongoing debates about the impact of bioengineered crops on biodiversity, the economic effects on small-scale farmers, and the concentration of seed ownership among a small number of large agricultural companies.
Making Informed Choices at the Grocery Store
The bioengineered food disclosure is ultimately a tool for consumer transparency. Whether you choose to seek out or avoid bioengineered ingredients is a personal decision that may be influenced by your values, health considerations, environmental concerns, or other factors.
If you want to avoid bioengineered ingredients, look for products bearing the USDA Organic seal, which prohibits the intentional use of bioengineered organisms. The Non-GMO Project Verified label is another option, though it is a third-party certification rather than a government standard. Shopping for whole, unprocessed foods like fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, and meats naturally reduces your exposure to bioengineered ingredients, since the majority are found in processed foods as corn and soy derivatives.
If you are comfortable with bioengineered foods based on the scientific consensus regarding their safety, the new labels simply provide an additional piece of information about how your food was produced, similar to country-of-origin labeling or nutritional information. Either way, the bioengineered food disclosure represents a significant step toward greater transparency in the American food system, empowering consumers to make choices that align with their individual values and priorities.
