GMO – Free Labelling in Luxembourg A Presentation of the Current Situation Service de la Sécurité Alimentaire 2015
STRUCTURE Legislative Context – EU Situation in Luxembourg The GMO – Free Label Issues arising Conclusion Budapest Conference – How to maintain GMO-free agriculture in Europe? Sarah Haunert, Food Safety Unit Luxembourg Service de la sécurité alimentaire 3, rue des Primeurs L-2361 Strassen 16/04/2015 Slide 2/15 OGM 13/01/2010 DOC-029 Rev02 Page 2/5
LEGISLATIVE CONTEXT - EU EU - Main EU legislative texts with regards to GMOs are: Legislative Context-EU - Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 Situation in Luxembourg - Regulation (EC) No 1830/2003 - Requirement : to label food and feed which GMO-Free Label contain GMOs - Tolerance threshold of 0.9 % Issues arising - Legislative gap Conclusion Budapest Conference – How to maintain GMO-free agriculture in Europe? Sarah Haunert, Food Safety Unit Luxembourg 16/04/2015 Slide 3/15
LEGISLATIVE CONTEXT - EU EU Mandatory Labelling No Mandatory Labelling Mandatory Labelling Legislative Context-EU Situation of Luxembourg Animals fed with Feed if > 0.9% Food if > 0.9% GMOs GMO-Free Label Issues arising Conclusion CONSUMERS NOT FULLY INFORMED Budapest Conference – How to maintain GMO-free agriculture in Europe? Sarah Haunert, Food Safety Unit Luxembourg 16/04/2015 Slide 4/15
SITUATION IN LUXEMBOURG - Luxembourg positions itself as anti-GMO - One of the six EU Member states which invoked the safe- guard clause Legislative Context-EU - Safe-guard clause has been used to ban the cultivation of GM maize “MON810” and potato “ Amflora ” - Political will to continue to defend an anti-GMO position: Situation in Luxembourg “The Government will continue to apply the precautionary principle with regards to genetically modified organisms (GMO), to promote a sustainable GMO-Free Label agriculture “without GMOs” and to defend its critical stance towards GMOs both within Luxembourg as well as on the European and international level. To the extent possible, it will ban the use of GMOs at national level and will launch Issues arising information and awareness-raising activities on this matter. ” - Many national environmental and consumer associations Conclusion defend an anti-GMO stance - Public opinion is thus mainly against the cultivation as well as the use of GMOs in food Budapest Conference – How to maintain GMO-free agriculture in Europe? Sarah Haunert, Food Safety Unit Luxembourg 16/04/2015 Slide 5/15
SITUATION IN LUXEMBOURG Legislative Context-EU - National voluntary initiatives Situation in Luxembourg - GMO-free communes - Feed producers GMO-Free Label - Egg producer Issues arising Voluntary use of the OGM-free label - Milk producer Possible ways forward Ferme Mathay (2012), Notre Gamme d’Oeufs [Photograph], http://www.fermemathay.lu/ Jmo (2013), Frësch Vollmëllech [Photograph], http://www.industrie.lu/MolkereiThirySchouweiler.html Budapest Conference – How to maintain GMO-free agriculture in Europe? Sarah Haunert, Food Safety Unit Luxembourg 16/04/2015 Slide 6/15
SITUATION IN LUXEMBOURG - Official controls in general show a low presence of detected GMOs in food Legislative Context-EU - EU legislation - National ban on cultivation of GMOs Situation in Luxembourg - Avoidance of cross-contamination GMO-Free Label FEED Issues arising - Total of 34 samples between 2012-2014 Possible ways forward - 4 positive samples with cross-contamination at production level Budapest Conference – How to maintain GMO-free agriculture in Europe? Sarah Haunert, Food Safety Unit Luxembourg 16/04/2015 Slide 7/15
SITUATION IN LUXEMBOURG Food Number of samples Legislative Context-EU Situation in Luxembourg 2014; 125 2009; 135 2013; 110 GMO-Free Label 2009 2010 2012 Issues arising 2013 2014 Possible ways foward 2010; 150 2012; 130 Budapest Conference – How to maintain GMO-free agriculture in Europe? Sarah Haunert, Food Safety Unit Luxembourg 16/04/2015 Slide 8/15
SITUATION IN LUXEMBOURG Food Type of samples Legislative Context-EU Flax Potatoes; 45 Papaya; 28 Flax; 54 Rice Situation in Luxembourg Gourd/Courgette; 36 Corn Soya GMO-Free Label Gourd/Courget Rice; 233 Soya; 130 te Issues arising Potatoes Papaya Conclusion Corn; 124 Budapest Conference – How to maintain GMO-free agriculture in Europe? Sarah Haunert, Food Safety Unit Luxembourg 16/04/2015 Slide 9/15
Total SITUATION IN LUXEMBOURG pumpkin seeds; 8 Food gourd/courgette; 28 flax; 54 potatoes; 45 papaya; 28 soya bean germ; 1 soy Tofu; 3 soy ready-to-eat; 8 soy particular food; 2 soy noodle; 19 Legislative Context-EU soy dessert; 5 rice; 233 soy drink; 25 Situation in Luxembourg Overview of products sampled soya sauce; 17 GMO-Free Label soy cereals/flour; 50 Issues arising corn vegetable; 6 Conclusion corn tortilla; 7 corn noodle; 14 corn cereals; 34 corn flour/polenta; 43 popcorn; 7 corn breakfast ; 13 Budapest Conference – How to maintain GMO-free agriculture in Europe? Sarah Haunert, Food Safety Unit Luxembourg 16/04/2015 Slide 10/15
SITUATION IN LUXEMBOURG 99,3 98 99,00 Food 99,2 93,4 100 90 80 Legislative Context-EU 70 60 Situation in Luxembourg Results of Analyses C :% GMO detected <0,9% 50 % not amplified % compliance GMO-Free Label 40 30 Issues arising 20 8,8 11,8 3,3 7,6 10 4,8 Conclusion 1,5 5,6 5,4 % compliance 3,1 5 0 % not amplified 2009 2010 C :% GMO detected <0,9% 2012 2013 2014 Budapest Conference – How to maintain GMO-free agriculture in Europe? Sarah Haunert, Food Safety Unit Luxembourg 16/04/2015 Slide 11/15
GMO-Free Label Animal produce: Food Feed Main elements of the label: Eggs, milk, meat (non-animal origin) Legislative Context-EU < 0.9% < 0.1 % - Scope Situation in Luxembourg - Main requirements - Monitoring GMO-Free Label - Controls Raw product Compound Raw product of non- Issues arising GMO-Free food of animal - Penalties animal product origin Label origin Conclusion Budapest Conference – How to maintain GMO-free agriculture in Europe? Sarah Haunert, Food Safety Unit Luxembourg 16/04/2015 Slide 12/15
ISSUES ARISING - Arising costs Legislative Context-EU - Producers - Consumers - Controls Situation in Luxembourg - Analytical feasibility GMO-Free Label - Technical feasibility - Other labels (organic label) Issues arising - Disadvantage for products without label - Consumer confusion Conclusion - Country specific considerations Budapest Conference – How to maintain GMO-free agriculture in Europe? Sarah Haunert, Food Safety Unit Luxembourg 16/04/2015 Slide 13/15
CONCLUSION Legislative Context-EU - Political Solution - GMO-free label at EU-level Situation in Luxembourg - More harmonisation - Less consumer confusion GMO-Free Label - Consumer information Issues arising - Government aims at promoting GMO-free initiatives with direct neighbours of the Greater Region Conclusion Budapest Conference – How to maintain GMO-free agriculture in Europe? Sarah Haunert, Food Safety Unit Luxembourg 16/04/2015 Slide 14/15
Thank you for your attention Contact Details Email: sarah.haunert@ms.etat.lu Tel.: +352 247-75634 Budapest Conference – How to maintain GMO-free agriculture in Europe? Sarah Haunert, Food Safety Unit Luxembourg 16/04/2015 Slide 15/15
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