A lot has happened since our last edition in March. Streamlined regulations for modern gene-editing techniques continue to become more common around the globe. The European Union Council has adopted rules differentiating new...more
On May 15, 2026, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a Request for Information (RFI) to solicit input on regulatory considerations related to the review of modified organisms subject to the Plant Protection...more
North America Regulations - Current Overview: Genetically engineered (GE) organisms in the United States are regulated under the Coordinated Framework, which allocates oversight among EPA, FDA, and USDA based on product...more
In November 2025, the Non-GMO Project, an organization primarily known for its work around certification of food products as free from genetically modified organisms (GMOs), published Version 1 of the Non-UPF Verified...more
At the end of 2025, as part of a bundle of measures to make the EU health sector more innovative, competitive and resilient, the European Commission proposed the EU Biotech Act (the Act) aimed at repositioning the EU as a...more
On 4 December 2025, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on a comprehensive framework for New Genomic Techniques (NGTs). The deal modernises EU agrifood rules and...more
A Ninth Circuit decision on bioengineered foods labeling, a state AG inquiry into grocery prices, an agreement in a New York "greenwashing" investigation, a lawsuit challenging the number of servings in a "Family Size" box,...more
In Natural Grocers v. Rollins, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit significantly upended certain parts of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (BE Rule). ...more
The landmark legal battle over who owns the intellectual property rights in genetically modified plants is heating up. Originally published in Law360 - October 23, 2024....more
This regular publication by DLA Piper lawyers focuses on helping clients navigate the ever-changing business, legal, and regulatory landscape. FSIS moving to strengthen oversight of food processing facilities with focus on...more
On October 2, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a new web-based interactive tool on the Unified Website for...more
The Biotechnology Risk Assessment Grants (BRAG) program supports the development of new information that will assist federal regulatory agencies in making evidence-based decisions about the effects of genetically engineered...more
In this blog, we have written a number of times on the topic of cultivated, i.e., lab grown meats. Last year, the FDA gave final regulatory approval for two different companies to sell their cultivated chicken in the United...more
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has published a Request for Information (RFI) asking interested parties to submit comments regarding potential revisions to the current...more
The European Parliament has adopted an amended European Commission proposal to regulate plants engineered using techniques such as CRISPR/Cas and ban any patenting of plants, plant parts, material, genetic information, or...more
In June of this year, the USDA approved the label of “cell-cultivated chicken” to be used for the sale of laboratory grown chicken. It also issued grants of inspection to Upside Foods and Eat Just (GOOD Meat), authorizing...more
In its two Confédération Paysanne decisions (cases C-528/161 and C-688/21), the Court of Justice of the European Union limited the exclusion of plants and products obtained by new genomic techniques (NGTs) from the...more
LEGISLATION, REGULATIONS & STANDARDS - Group Petitions USDA to Prohibit ‘Low-Carbon Beef’ Label, Require Verification for Carbon Claims - The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has petitioned the U.S. Department of...more
After seven years of contentious (not to mention costly) litigation, in September 2022, the federal district judge overseeing the In re: Kind LLC “Healthy and Natural” multi-district litigation decertified three state classes...more
On 7 July 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the CJEU) issued a preliminary ruling on a regional law banning a Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) previously authorised in Europe....more
A court has invalidated the portion of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Agricultural Marketing Service’s (AMS’s) final rule implementing the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (BE Rule) that allows...more
On July 22, 2022, the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) opened up public comment on a proposed rule to make two changes to the List of Bioengineered Foods (the List). The National...more
The ability to edit eukaryotic DNA entails an almost limitless ability to alter the genetic makeup of the plants that become our food. Recently, scientific attention has been directed to applying a class of new gene-editing...more
In July 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ), the EU’s Highest Court, issued a decision clarifying whether the EU would regulate products of innovative breeding techniques, like gene editing, under the EU’s...more
Dr. Schönig, CO2-neutral meat production is considered one of the key aspects in the fight against climate change. Can we really make a big difference through our food choices? According to expert estimates, conventional...more