GMO-free labelling
Can it stop GMOs through the backdoor?
Food products that contain GMOs must be labelled in the EU. But this obligation has not been imposed on animal products from animals that have been fed with GMOs. The consequence of this legal vacuum is that the food industry imports millions of tonnes of GMOs to feed EU animals without any information to the consumers. Additionally, producers that do not want to use GMO feed, but are still dependent on soybean or maize imports, find it increasingly difficult and expensive to get GMO-free feed.
For consumers' to have a real choice to avoid GMOs in their food, it is imperative to ensure sufficient availability of GMO-free supplies.
The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament is holding a conference next week on "How GMO-free labelling of food products can contribute to increase GMO-free supplies for animal feed", co-hosted by MEPs José Bové, Jill Evans and Bart Staes.
The conference will look at whether voluntary GMO-free labelling of food products can contribute to increase GMO-free supplies for animal feed, and under which conditions.
For a few years now, some Member States (Austria, France, Germany) have taken legislative steps to allow for GMO-free labelling, and some companies have begun labelling animal products.
During the conference, we will share some GMO-free producers' experiences, technical difficulties and results. We will also discuss the different EU laws on GMO-free labelling and how consistent they are, and look at the ways to speed up adoption of meaningful GMO-free labels in all EU countries.
The conference programme will include 2 panels:
- Panel 1: GMO-free labelling: producers and consumers' perspectives, with panellists from the food chain.
- Panel 2: GMO-free « regulators »: "How to encourage EU countries to adopt meaningful labelling measures?" with panellists from EU Member States regulatory authorities.
For the full detaield programme and registartion page to access the European Parliament, visit:
