The Grocery Manufacturers Association filed notice Wednesday that it plans to appeal last week's federal court ruling in which a judge declined to halt Vermont's law requiring the labeling of foods that contain genetically modified organisms.

“The court’s opinion in denying our request to block the Vermont law opens the door to states creating mandatory labeling requirements based on pseudo-science and web-fed hysteria,”  Pamela G. Bailey, president of GMA, said in a news release. “If this law is allowed to go into effect, it will disrupt food supply chains, confuse consumers and lead to higher food costs.”

U.S. District Court Judge Christina Reiss last week ruled that the first-in-the-nation law, which is due to take effect in July 2016, can move forward pending the outcome of a lawsuit seeking to strike it down.



GMA takes issue with a state-by-state labeling approach. “This court ruling shows why Congress should pass the voluntary uniform GMO labeling bill quickly and federally preempt state mandatory GMO laws,” Bailey said in the statement.