Traceability remains one of the burning issues of the day throughout the food industry, and nowhere more so than in biotechnology. The EU is currently developing formal proposals relating to the traceability and labelling of genetically engineered organisms, foods and seeds, but the late July deadline is looking increasingly unrealistic.
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The European Commission is currently grappling with what level of contamination of GM organisms it is prepared to accept. A threshold of 1% genetically modified content for foods and processed goods has already been established. This means foods containing less than 1% GM content do not need to be labelled as such. However, the Commission is now trying to determine the threshold for accidental GM contamination, which needs to be lower.
One of the problems the Commission faces is the lack of scientific trials sensitive enough to detect such minute levels of genetically modified organisms. As the Wall Street Journal comments, contamination can occur when, for example, grains are shipped in a container previously used to transport genetically modified seeds. If tested upon arrival in the EU, these grains could show traces of modified material and need to be labelled accordingly.
An EU environment official explained that the intense discussions the Commission was engaging in now were being undertaken to prevent having to rewrite entire sections of the GMO package, which could set the process back by years.
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