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The Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents more than 300 food companies, is preparing a petition to the chief U.S. food safety regulator and a push in Congress to require changes in oversight and labeling of new genetically modified foods, an association leader said Monday.

The double-pronged strategy, which the group expects roll out early this year, is aimed at squelching state-by-state efforts to mandate labeling of foods containing biotech crops, and at the same time setting a standard that among other things would authorize GMO foods to be touted as “natural.”

GMO and natural labeling issues have prompted scores of lawsuits around the country and a mix of practices by different food companies. More than two dozen states are examining GMO labeling laws, and state ballot measures in California and Washington have cost the food industry more than $70 million in campaign spending to defeat.

“We should not be making food safety labeling decisions through a patchwork of state laws,” Louis Finkel, executive vice president of government affairs for the GMA, said in an interview.

Finkel said his group has been working with a broad coalition, including biotech crop developers, to put together its legislative and labeling proposals. He would not say which lawmakers the group was working with on the legislation but that it should be introduced soon. The legislation would mandate consistent labeling of non-GMO and GMO foods, while nullifying state laws not identical to the federal law.

Another provision would make it mandatory for biotech crop developers to notify the Food and Drug Administration before they introduce a new genetically modified crop to the marketplace – currently that notification is voluntary.

“Making it mandatory gives consumers greater confidence,” said Finkel.

The bill also would set specific time frames in which the FDA has to respond to mandatory notifications.

The FDA currently engages in what it calls “consultations” with crop developers. The agency then typically issues a letter to those crop developers reminding them that it is a developer’s responsibility to ensure its products are safe.

The legislation would not change that aspect of oversight but allow the FDA to specify “any special labeling” to protect health and safety or to “prevent the label of bioengineered food from being false or misleading.”