Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan.
Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., today will introduce a bill that would prohibit state governments from enacting laws requiring labeling of foods containing genetically modified ingredients.

Pompeo told members of the North American Agricultural Journalists on Tuesday afternoon that he would introduce the bill, but the news was embargoed until 10 a.m. when Pompeo intends to hold a telephone news conference.

The bill is “aimed at making sure we can produce the food that feeds the world,” Pompeo said. He added that “cross breeding” of crops has been going on for a long time and that he considers genetic modification “a more sophisticated way” of cross breeding.

Although an industry coalition called the Coalition for Safe and Affordable Food has been pushing for the legislation and informed the agricultural journalists of Pompeo’s willingness to talk about it in advance, Pompeo said the bill was developed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on which he sits.

The coalition, whose most important member is the Grocery Manufacturers Association, has become intensely frustrated about the number of state labeling laws and initiatives that have been introduced and the cost of fighting them.

Pompeo said his Democratic co-sponsor would be Rep. G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina, and that he expects the committee to hold a hearing on the bill in June or July.

Pompeo said the bill would require companies to submit new genetically modified products to the Food and Drug Administration, which would examine them and put on a label if “there is evidence of adulteration, food safety or mislabeling,” but would otherwise have no label.

Since there would be a federal label if the FDA decided one was needed, the law would also pre-empt state labeling, Pompeo said. Voters would also be prohibited from putting initiatives to require labeling on state ballots, an aide said.

But Pompeo said that companies and stores that wish to label products as non-GMO would still be able to do that.

The companies would be required to submit new GMO products such as seeds to the FDA “at the point of commercialization,” Pompeo said. The review would be of the “base element” such as corn or fruit rather than final food products, he said.

The reviews that the Environmental Protection Agency and the Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service would continue, he said.

Asked whether the FDA review would not slow down the development of new genetically engineered products, an aide said that there is “greater concern” about state labeling than the time the FDA review would take.

▪ The Coalition for Safe Affordable Food