The European food industry speaks out loud and clear for rigorous labelling of NGTs
In the framework of a joint action of organic and conventional companies, 376 businesses from the food industry from 16 Member States, including industry giants like REWE Group, SPAR Austria, dm-drogerie market and Biocoop, signed the letter “Food Industry for Freedom of Choice” calling for rigorous labelling of NGTs in Europe.
Across Europe, companies from both the organic and conventional sector united to call for policymakers to defend their entrepreneurial freedom in the face of the NGT legislative proposal, which threatens to eliminate mandatory labelling across the supply chain and consumers.
Today, 3 September, Gunther Weiss, Head of Quality Management at Alnatura and Alexander Hissting from Managing Director of the Association Food without Genetic Engineering (Verband Lebensmittel ohne Gentechnik, VLOG) met with István Nagy, the Hungarian Minister of Agriculture and current EU Council President for Agriculture and Fisheries, to convey the industry’s concerns and personally hand over the letter.
What does the letter say?
The letter calls for labelling and traceability all NGTs, freedom of choice and fair competitive conditions along the entire value chain, reminding policymakers of the widespread consumer scepticism and citizens’ demands for transparency. The letter also demands the provision for detection methods to underpin the labelling system and for the rights to national co-existence measures.
A successful handover with full support from the Hungarian minister
At the handover, the Hungarian agricultural minister Nagy showed his support for the companies’ demands, saying that he could understand the concerns and was fully behind the demands. At the same time, the letter was sent to the other EU agriculture ministers.
Very timely initiative – Feeding into the hot policy debate
The European Council is currently discussing their position on a new legislative proposal on new GMOs, the so-called “New Genomic Techniques” which would dismantle most of the strict regulatory framework for new GMOs. This deregulation entails lower biosafety standards and importantly, without supply chain and end-of-product labelling, it would impede freedom of choice for food producers and consumers. So far, Member States have not managed to find agreement on this legislative proposal.
Read our webpage on GMOs for more information on the current legal framework, the organic movement’s position and the ongoing legislative revision process.
Read companies’ stances on this matter and learn more in VLOG’s press release: https://www.ohnegentechnik.org/en/press/articles/european-enterprises-call-for-rigorous-labelling-of-ngts
The work of IFOAM Organics Europe on this topic is co-financed by the LIFE programme of the European Union, under the Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). This page only reflects the views of the authors and its sole responsibility lies with IFOAM Organics Europe. The CINEA is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information provided.