The authorisation of three genetically modified (GMO) soya beans for food and feed use by the European Commission (EC) has been duly “acknowledged” by Europe’s feed sector bodies, albeit with the added comment that the newly approved items had been in the pending tray since the beginning of 2016.
The EC, in its authorisation announcement, said that the three GMOs had been put through a comprehensive procedure, including gaining a favourable scientific assessment by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
The response from COCERAL, FEDIOL and FEFAC, the three bodies representing commodity collection and trade, oilseed crushing and compound feed manufacturing, made use of the EC announcement to “reiterate” the need for a robust, predictable EU GMO import authorisation system.
The three bodies stated that such a system is needed to provide legal certainty to operators to ensure vital protein supplies to the EU feed and livestock sector.
“We regret the absence of any explanation for the extended delay of the final decision stage on these GMO import market authorisations which has created undue uncertainty in export countries and at the level of importers, food and feed business operators,” they said.
“All market partners rely on a fully functioning EU regulatory framework, to be able to make forward contracts covering the supply of new crop vegetable protein meeting the demand of the EU food, feed and livestock sector which is 70% dependent on imports of protein-rich raw and feed materials.”
