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H.R. 3553 (112th): Genetically Engineered Food Right to Know Act


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The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress, and was published on Dec 2, 2011.


Genetically Engineered Food Right to Know Act - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), the Federal Meat Inspection Act, and the Poultry Products Inspection Act to deem a food misbranded if it contains or was produced with a genetically engineered material unless its labeling contains statements meeting specified requirements. Requires the periodic testing of such foods transferred along a chain of distribution to assure accuracy of labels, subject to specified exceptions. Excludes, in all three Acts, food: (1) served in restaurants; or (2) prepared primarily in a retail establishment, ready for human consumption, but not offered for sale for immediate consumption in the establishment.

Excludes, for purposes of the FFDCA, a medical food as defined in the Orphan Drug Act.

Subjects violators to civil monetary penalties, exempting recipients who accept a guarantee of the absence of genetically engineered material in good faith or producers whose food inadvertently becomes contaminated by genetically engineered material.

Authorizes citizen suits as specified.