In September 2022, the ruling from the U.S. District Court of Northern California in Natural Grocers, et al. v. Vilsack, et al. found that Agricultural Marketing Service’s (AMS) action of offering a standalone text message disclosure option (7 CFR 66.108) as an additional and comparable option fell outside of the statutory authority of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1621 et. seq.) and failed to address the problem of insufficient access to the bioengineered food disclosure through the electronic or digital link disclosure option.  The Judge also found that an additional and comparable disclosure option must be included when using the electronic or digital link disclosure option (7 CFR 66.106).  The Judge’s order remanded sections 66.106 and 108 to AMS without vacatur for further consideration.

A Request for Information was issued in April 2024.  In accordance with the Judge’s ruling, AMS proposes a rule for public comment that would amend the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard to remove the standalone text message disclosure option found at 7 CFR 66.108 and to add language to the electronic or digital disclosure option found at 7 CFR 66.106, requiring an accompanying BE symbol or on-package text as defined in sections 66.104 and 66.102 when an electronic or digital link disclosure is made.