Judge rules GMO labeling needs more than QR code

The (USA) Agriculture Department's decision to allow a standalone text message option on food packaging does not comply with a 2016 GMO labeling law requiring an accessible alternative to QR codes.

U.S. District Judge James Donato in the Northern District of California found that a USDA policy providing 'a separate text message disclosure option did nothing to fix the problem of inaccessible electronic disclosures'.

USDA will now need to revise the portions of its 2018 rules that allow for QR code labeling and remove the option of QR codes alone on the package. Instead, USDA will be required to add an additional disclosure option to QR code labeling accessible to all Americans.