February 24, 2011
Feed association welcomes EU decision on trace amounts of GM materials
EU feedmakers' association FEFAC has welcomed the vote of EU committee on the "technical solution" for traces of unapproved genetically modified (GM) materials in feed imports.
"After more than two years of discussion, there is now finally an analytical definition of the "zero" level, which continues to be requested from a political point of view. Test results on GM material traces can now be interpreted more accurately and are reproducible. This measure should safeguard vital supplies of new crop protein feeds from South America to our EU livestock industry," said FEFAC president Patrick Vanden Avenne.
FEFAC opposes the view that the "technical solution" means a weakening of the principle of the so-called zero tolerance for GM materials. The decision is first and foremost an important step towards more legal security. "Until now, the burden of proof of systematic or accidental differences between laboratories or analytical methods as well as mistakes in sampling or sample treatment exclusively rested on the feed chain. At least this situation should change now," said Avenne.
FEFAC, the European Compound Feed Manufacturers' Federation, represents 21 national Associations in 20 EU member states as well as associations in Switzerland, Turkey, Norway, Croatia, Serbia and Russia with observer/associate member status.