By the time this column goes to print, the European Commission (EC) will have initiated its scheduled review concerning the implementation of Regulations 1829/2003 and 1830/2003 on genetically modified (GM) food and feed, by the industry, as laid down in articles 48 and 12 of 1829/2003 and 1930/2003 respectively.
The intention of this review is to assess whether any aspect of the legislation requires clarification 18 months after it came into force in April 2004. It focuses particularly on the transitional measures for adventitious contamination laid down in article 47 of Regulation 1829/2003, and the requirements to provide unique identifiers in the traceability of mixtures of GM organisms, laid down in article 4 of Regulation 1830/2003.
What is interesting is that although this is by far the most stringent approach to GM traceability and labelling the world over, the Food and Veterinary Office has only made one inspection of a member state (Spain) since this became law, although another was in the annual schedule for Italy. Instead, the EC has assessed the status of compliance via questionnaires to member states, which has apparently resulted in a series of less than satisfactory responses, requiring the EC to review this approach.
The industry eagerly awaits clarification of the status of fermentation products, promised to be delivered by the November review. Meanwhile, the tenuous exclusion of all products of fermentation (provided no DNA or protein is present) surely requires solid guidance.
Mind you, notifications of incorrectly labelled, or non-authorised GM organisms in 2004 amounted to a total of nine notifications (which also included novel foods, so it is in fact even lower).
It would appear that industry is coping better than originally anticipated with such an unworkable piece of legislation. It will be of significant interest to anyone who has struggled over the past few years in the build up and final implementation of this legislation to find out what the EC thinks and how, if at all, it intends to change it!
Jean FeordBusiness manager for legislation,Leatherhead Food Internationalhttp://www.leatherheadfood.com