European food industry loud and clear about rigorous labelling of new genomic techniques (NGTs)

376 food businesses from 16 Member States, signed Food Industry for Freedom of Choice, a letter calling for rigorous labelling of NGTs in Europe. The companies cover both organic and conventional and include industry giants like REWE Group, SPAR Austria, dm-drogerie market and Biocoop.

Loud, clear & united: Food businesses want labelling & traceability of all NGTs

Food businesses urge policymakers to defend their entrepreneurial freedom in the face of the new genomic techniques (NGT) legislative proposal, which threatens to eliminate mandatory labelling across the supply chain and for consumers.

The letter reminds policymakers of consumers’ widespread scepticism and citizens’ demands for transparency. It specifically calls for:

• Labelling and traceability of all NGTs,
• Freedom of choice,
• Fair competitive conditions along the entire value chain,
• Detection methods to underpin the labelling system, and
• Every country’s rights to national co-existence measures.

Hungarian Agriculture Minister expresses support at handover

On 3 September, Gunther Weiss, Head of Quality Management at Alnatura and Alexander Hissting, Managing Director at Industry Association Food without Genetic Engineering (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.  

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, all other EU Agricultural Ministers received the letter.

Very timely initiative – Feeding into the hot policy debate

The Council of the European Union is currently discussing their position on a new legislative proposal on new GMOs, the so-called “New Genomic Techniques” (NGTs) which would dismantle most of the strict regulatory framework for new GMOs.

Such deregulation would lead to lower biosafety standards and limit food producers and consumers’ freedom of choice – as it lacks supply chain and end-of-product labelling.

So far, Member States have not managed to find agreement on this legislative proposal.

More about GMOs – old and new

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 

For more information on new GMOs (so called ‘new genomic techniques’ or NGTs):

• Check out myths about organic & NGTs;
• Read the paper Sustainability in organic breeding;
• Watch our video explaining what new GMOs are and why we need to keep them labelled and regulated;
• Find out about analytical detection methods the DARWIN project is developing;
• Visit our website page on (new) GMOs

Did not find the information you need? Contact [email protected] for more information. Please do note that we prioritise our members’ requests.

IFOAM Organics Europe members can find more information on the member extranet and background materials in the arguments database on the member extranet (main messages, arguments/FAQs, visuals & videos). Contact [email protected] for access rights (issues). For access to our member extranet and information about what you can gain from being a member, read our membership page and contact [email protected].