AN ACT CONCERNING GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2003) (a) For purposes of this section: (1) "Manufacturer" means any person, firm or corporation that produces or grows food that is packaged for retail sale and contains ingredient information on its labeling pursuant to federal law; (2) "person" means any individual, partnership, firm, association, limited liability company or corporation; (3) "genetically engineered" means grown, manufactured, processed or otherwise produced or altered with techniques that change the molecular or cell biology of an organism by means or in a manner not possible under natural conditions or processes, including, but not limited to, recombinant DNA techniques, cell fusion, micro-encapsulation, macro-encapsulation, gene deletion, gene doubling, introducing a foreign gene and changing the positions of genes. Genetically engineered does not mean breeding, conjugation, fermentation, hybridization, in-vitro fertilization or tissue culture processes.

(b) Any manufacturer who includes any genetically engineered ingredient in any food product shall list such ingredient as being "genetically engineered" in the ingredient statement of the label attached to such food product.

(c) All foods sold in violation of this section shall be deemed to be misbranded under section 21a-102 of the general statutes.

Statement of Purpose:

To better inform consumers of the content of the foods they consume.

[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]