GMO labeling is officially mandatory, and QR codes could become the new standard on the grocery aisle.
星期五，白宫宣布，奥巴马总统签署了法律的强制转基因标签账单。国会两周前通过了这项账单而白宫已经表示，预计总统于本月早些时候签署账单。
美国农业部现在有两年来遏制法律的细节，包括围绕在产品包装上印刷的QR码的详细信息作为披露转基因成分的一种选择。一群声音消费者和公共卫生倡导者有pushed back against the use of QR codes据说电子披露对没有智能手机的人口统计数据来识别代码在商店中扫描代码。
这杂货制造商协会’s SmartLabel initiative，去年12月推出，代表QR码的一个选择。若干制造商已经开始使用SmartLabel披露GMO成分和约360个其他产品和公司属性。这些公司展示 - 在法律生效之前 - SmartLabel的角色可能会在未来在食品行业的透明度中发挥作用。
Smartlabel的诞生 - 以及Hershey的角色
由于近期国会的立法，SmartLabel已与Gmo标记在公众眼中挂钩。GMA是否专门为GMO标签开发SmartLabel？
“一个明确的，”吉姆·弗兰尼（GMA的经营和行业副总裁Jim Flannery）表示，行动和行业事务副总裁以及SmartLabel项目的领导者。
"SmartLabel actually started as a board conversation we had about two years ago," said Flannery. "It was very much a food and a non-food conversation around, as industry, we've got a responsibility to address the consumer’s growing thirst for knowledge. We have to find a way to get consumers the information they’re seeking about the food, beverage and consumer products that they use. It was not any one issue that drove it."
Taking a step back further, Hershey had conducted early consumer research in 2014 to为SmartLabel生成初始原型, Deb Arcoleo, director of product transparency, told Food Dive. Hershey saw SmartLabel as a potential mobile tool for industry transparency, and at that time, GMO labeling "really wasn’t even on our radar," Arcoleo said.
“司机真的很多 - 特别是如果你看看食物 - 有很多徽章和图标和认证，包装开始看起来像一个NASCAR车，”Accoleo说。“我们的首席执行官特别说，有这么多人想了解食物......包裹只是一个糟糕的契约，适合提供信息。那不是它的意图。”
"Meanwhile you've got smartphone ownership statistics going up dramatically year over year over year," Arcoleo continued. "Isn't there something better that we can do and couldn't we play a leadership role and get industry to align with us and do something really groundbreaking? That was really the impetus for it."
SmartLabel采用 - 现在然后
As of mid-July,the SmartLabel database包含有关近十一家公司的超过1200件物品的信息，从Hershey和Campbell这样的主要参与者到较小的公司，比如裸体培根和生活的食物。
GMO disclosure was voluntary—though that will soon change—but all producers on the database had voluntarily provided GMO ingredient disclosure, Flannery said. That’s along with a host of other product details. These range from allergens—which Flannery says is the most-clicked area on the site—to ingredient origin and company details.
GMA进行了成员调查，以帮助预测整个行业的未来采用SmartLabel。Flannery表示，当该倡议开始开始时，签署了36家公司在市场上标记估计的34,000件物品，弗兰纳德表示。另外48家公司同意参加该计划，但需要更多时间制定实施预测。与这些公司一起，Flannery表示，“保守派”的参与项目估计将跨越2018年的60,000门槛。
But now that SmartLabel may be an acceptable option for mandatory GMO labeling regulations, the adoption rate could increase. Increased demand for transparency could also drive SmartLabel adoption.
随着更多公司采用SmartLabel - 特别是具有许多产品的更大的制造商 - 和SmartLabel的可见性增加，尚未采用的公司可以“从消费者的角度潜在地潜在，”Arcoleo说。
“消费者可能是不准确的，即他们试图隐藏某些东西或者他们不想分享所有这些信息，并且完全不是这种情况，”Arcoleo说。
SmartLabel holds promise for smaller natural and organic companies as much as major players, Flannery said.
“有一些有趣的公司已经跳进了，”弗兰纳利说。“我猜我不太令人惊讶，但这对较小的有机企业来说真的很有吸引力。你会看到那里的生活和裸体培根的食物 - 那些品牌拥有一个真正重视透明度的消费者基础。他们是其中一些第一个参加SmartLabel的品牌。“
SmartLabel的一个障碍是该计划不自由，需要投资参与。但是，Accoleo指出，打印SmartLabel或封装声明仍然是一种具有相似成本的包装变更。
"I think honestly it’s going to depend on whether the company sees value in being a full SmartLabel brand program participant, which means agreeing to display that landing page in all of its glory — not just the GMO piece,” said Arcoleo. "If they see value in that, then I think they will say, 'This is great. We can comply with the federal law, and we can also provide our consumers with a lot of information about our products.'"
到目前为止，制造商如何实现SmartLabel
In late 2015, Hershey became第一个采用SmartLabel的品牌好时的假期亲吻。没有任何标记eting to support its SmartLabel adoption, as of mid-July, Hershey had seen about 47,000 QR code scans from about 26,000 unique users on the 300 products currently labeled with the QR code in stores, Arcoleo said. Hershey plans to have the entirety of its portfolio labeled with the QR code by the end of 2017.
坎贝尔在1月份发出了一个冲击波the first major manufacturer to commit to label GMO ingredients在其投资组合中，其次是其他几家制造商几个月后。但是，即使坎贝尔可以使用SmartLabel遵守强制转基因标签规定，一家公司发言人告诉Food Dive认为，Campbell计划保持其对印刷“明确而简单的语言关于GMO成分在我们所有美国产品的标签上存在的明确语言”。“
但是，Campbell仍将参加SmartLabel，仅通过QR代码。三种物品的产品信息 - 浓缩番茄，蘑菇和鸡肉面条汤 - 在SmartLabel.org的产品数据库上列出了公司www.whatsinmyfood.com.“发言人说：”随着计划增加更多的计划。“这代表了造成QR码或包装披露的制造商的另一种选择。
仙肠还鼓掌了Unilever的Hellmann的蛋黄酱品牌，超越了典型的产品和成分披露。它包括来自加拿大爱荷华州和安大略省产品的产品的大豆原料的大豆等细节。
SmartLabel在不仅仅是转基因标签的角色，而且透明于食品和饮料行业，才刚刚开始。Flannery表示，GMA计划推出广泛的沟通，以告知消费者在2017年后半部分的关于SmartLabel。到那时，GMA预计SmartLabel采用袭击了“临界质量”，将足以让消费者可以轻松找到QR码的普遍存在弗兰尼说，商店说。
