The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 9 : Commerce and Trade

Chapter 082A : Labeling of Food Produced with Genetic Engineering

• § 3042. Definitions

  As used in this chapter:

  (1) “Consumer” has the same meaning as in subdivision 2451a(1) of this title.

  (2) “Enzyme” means a protein that catalyzes chemical reactions of other substances without itself being destroyed or altered upon completion of the reactions.

  (3) “Food” means food intended for human consumption.

  (4) “Genetic engineering” is a process by which a food is produced from an organism or organisms in which the genetic material has been changed through the application of:

  (A) in vitro nucleic acid techniques, including recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) techniques and the direct injection of nucleic acid into cells or organelles; or

  (B) fusion of cells, including protoplast fusion, or hybridization techniques that overcome natural physiological, reproductive, or recombination barriers, where the donor cells or protoplasts do not fall within the same taxonomic group, in a way that does not occur by natural multiplication or natural recombination.

  (5) “In vitro nucleic acid techniques” means techniques, including recombinant DNA or ribonucleic acid techniques, that use vector systems and techniques involving the direct introduction into the organisms of hereditary materials prepared outside the organisms such as micro-injection, chemoporation, electroporation, micro-encapsulation, and liposome fusion.

  (6) “Manufacturer” means a person who:

  (A) produces a processed food or raw agricultural commodity under its own brand or label for sale in or into the State;

  (B) sells in or into the State under its own brand or label a processed food or raw agricultural commodity produced by another supplier;

  (C) owns a brand that it licenses or licensed to another person for use on a processed food or raw commodity sold in or into the State;

  (D) sells in, sells into, or distributes in the State a processed food or raw agricultural commodity that it packaged under a brand or label owned by another person;

  (E) imports into the United States for sale in or into the State a processed food or raw agricultural commodity produced by a person without a presence in the United States; or

  (F) produces a processed food or raw agricultural commodity for sale in or into the State without affixing a brand name.

  (7) “Organism” means any biological entity capable of replication, reproduction, or transferring of genetic material.

  (8) “Processed food” means any food other than a raw agricultural commodity and includes any food produced from a raw agricultural commodity that has been subjected to processing such as canning, smoking, pressing, cooking, freezing, dehydration, fermentation, or milling.

  (9) “Processing aid” means:

  (A) a substance that is added to a food during the processing of the food but that is removed in some manner from the food before the food is packaged in its finished form;

  (B) a substance that is added to a food during processing, is converted into constituents normally present in the food, and does not significantly increase the amount of the constituents naturally found in the food; or

  (C) a substance that is added to a food for its technical or functional effect in the processing but is present in the finished food at levels that do not have any technical or functional effect in that finished food.

  (10) “Raw agricultural commodity” means any food in its raw or natural state, including any fruit or vegetable that is washed, colored, or otherwise treated in its unpeeled natural form prior to marketing. (Added 2013, No. 120 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. July 1, 2016; amended 2021, No. 20, § 30.)