Ask The Brewmasters

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Brian Confer
Co-Owner / Head Brewer
Stormcloud Brewing Company
Frankfort MI
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Great topic and thank you for posting this question. I believe it is critical for breweries to be transparent with labeling in order to maintain consumer trust. While this may not be a legal issue, this is certainly an ethical debate that many consumers feel strongly about. Conversely to strong sentiments, those consumers that do not care will likely change their stance as more information becomes readily available to the general public. I personally have found that there is a lot of confusion about what bio-engineered and GM actually mean (even amongst experts), so there is a great opportunity for craft brewers to take the lead and educate consumers.

One other point that comes to mind is that CRISPR yeast is significantly different than GM ingredients that are used in brewing currently. Benefits to agriculture seem to be moot in this case.

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Chris Bogdanoff
Head Brewer
Heroes Restaurant and Brewery
Rancho Cucamonga CA
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Brewers Association has published a summary of the regulatory requirements of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) national bioengineered (BE) food disclosure standard (NBFDS): https://www.brewersassociation.org/brewing-industry-updates/new-bioengineered-foods-labeling-requirements/

As Chris Bogdanoff notes, complying with the regulations and providing transparency for consumers are two very different decisions to make.

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Charles Skypeck
Brewers Association
Boulder CO
(901) 828-7836
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It's my understanding that it wouldn't be an FDA requirement to be labeled since the yeast is removed after fermentation.  As someone else mentioned it would probably be treated the same as a process aid such as DE or PVPP.  I know that as much as 90% of cheeses are made with rennet produced by genetically modified bacteria and doesn't require labeling (it used to be sourced from the stomach lining of baby cows).  You will sometimes see it listed as microbial rennet in the ingredients, but some of them still even claim GMO-Free on the label.

As far as I know there is no legal requirement, but I think honesty is always the best policy and my personal opinion would be to be transparent about it and let the consumer decide.

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Jason Weihbrecht
Lab Manager
Oskar Blues Brewery
Brevard NC
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It only takes on disgruntled employee and a member of the press who thinks they are disclosing something.......

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Alex Speers B.Sc. (Agr.), Ph.D.,FIBD
Canadian Institute of Fermentation Technology
Dalhousie University,
Halifax, NS
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-10-2022 12:43
From: Jason Weihbrecht
Subject: Consumer Transparency of Bio-engineered Yeast

It's my understanding that it wouldn't be an FDA requirement to be labeled since the yeast is removed after fermentation.  As someone else mentioned it would probably be treated the same as a process aid such as DE or PVPP.  I know that as much as 90% of cheeses are made with rennet produced by genetically modified bacteria and doesn't require labeling (it used to be sourced from the stomach lining of baby cows).  You will sometimes see it listed as microbial rennet in the ingredients, but some of them still even claim GMO-Free on the label.

As far as I know there is no legal requirement, but I think honesty is always the best policy and my personal opinion would be to be transparent about it and let the consumer decide.

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Jason Weihbrecht
Lab Manager
Oskar Blues Brewery
Brevard NC
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