Shall I have the possibility to choose between GM and non GM food?

Labelling is mandatory within the EU for all products consisting of, containing, or obtained from GMOs This should allow the informed choice of the consumer, although the label “containing GMO” or “obtained from GMO” does not say anything about the actual characteristics of the product. Indeed, modified traits can be very diverse and, furthermore, the commercialized product derived from a GMO may be strictly identical to the conventional product. In many cases the trait that was modified in the GM plant aims at improving the field performance of the crop plant (herbicide tolerance for instance) with no intended impact on the quality of the end-used product. For instance, refined oil from a herbicide tolerant maize is strictly equivalent to the oil extracted from conventional varieties. Nevertheless, it will be labelled as originating from GMOs. This is a major point of the EU legislation, but also a conflicting issue between EU and US, which estimates that products with no change in their end properties should not be segregated and labelled. By the way, the initial rule in the EU (Novel Food regulation ) estimated that no labelling was required unless the product was substantially non equivalent in terms of composition and/or presence of novel DNA/proteins, but this rationale was changed by the later Regulations EC N° 1830/2003 1820/2003 that imposed the labelling of any GM derived product, regardless of whether or not it is modified.

The current rules and principles of labelling of GM food and feed in the EU are presented here.

back