A federal appeals court ruling has reopened key elements of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard, requiring the agency to reconsider how highly refined foods and certain disclosure methods are treated under federal law.
In Natural Grocers v. Rollins, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in October 2025 that USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service erred by excluding highly refined foods from the bioengineered food disclosure requirement when modified genetic material could no longer be detected in the finished product. The court remanded the issue to USDA for further consideration.
The decision also addressed the use of electronic disclosure methods. The court found that the district court had previously erred by declining to vacate two disclosure format provisions after determining that they were invalid, directing the lower court to prospectively vacate those provisions. The ruling did not, however, reject USDA’s use of the term “bioengineered” as the uniform disclosure terminology.
The ruling could have implications for products made with highly refined ingredients derived from bioengineered crops, including certain oils and other ingredients in which modified genetic material may not be detectable after processing. USDA had previously interpreted the absence of detectable modified genetic material as placing such products outside the disclosure standard. The court rejected that interpretation, while noting that USDA retains authority to establish an appropriate threshold under other provisions of the law.
USDA is now preparing a new rulemaking in response to the court’s decision. The agency’s regulatory agenda identifies a proposed rule for August 2026 addressing deficiencies in the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard identified by the Ninth Circuit.
The forthcoming USDA rulemaking will determine how the court’s decision is translated into updated disclosure requirements and whether additional categories of processed foods become subject to mandatory bioengineered food disclosures.
Sources: Natural Grocers v. Rollins, No. 22-16770, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, October 31, 2025. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, “National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard: Court Remand,” Regulatory Information Service, RIN 0581-AE52, 2026 National Agricultural Law Center, “Ninth Circuit Addresses Natural Grocers v. Rollins,” March 19, 2026.