U.S. Senate should pass unified food labeling bill

The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives in July with bipartisan support. We look forward to the U.S. Senate taking it up this fall.

This bill prevents states from creating an unworkable patchwork of conflicting laws that force food producers to put costly and confusing labels on some foods that may contain genetically modified ingredients while exempting others.

The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act benefits Washington's family farmers, food companies and consumers. The act creates a national, voluntary standard for labeling to ensure that our farmers and food producers, who sell across state lines, will be able to do so without a snarled patchwork of state laws and inconsistent restrictions that hurt our family farms and other food businesses and make it more difficult for them to be successful.

It benefits consumers by keeping food prices lower.

All Washingtonians should welcome this effort to create a national food labeling standard that protects farmers, small businesses and consumers, while still providing science-based information to consumers.

Please ask Sens. Murray and Cantwell to support this legislation.

Olympia

This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 4:34 AM with the headline "U.S. Senate should pass unified food labeling bill."