December 1, 2009
EU approves Syngenta GMO corn for use in food, animal feed
Earlier this week, the European Commission approved Swiss company Syngenta's genetically modified (GMO) corn type MIR604, which might allow resumption of imports of soy and soybeans for animal feed.
The imports of soybean and soymeal from the US for animal feed have been at a standstill since this summer, when more than 200,000 tonnes were refused entry because they contained traces of unapproved GMOs.
Currently, EU has a zero-tolerance policy on unauthorized GMOs, and approvals have been slow as public safety concerns have become an issue.
The EU Commission, said in a statement that it had authorized the Syngenta corn-type for food and feed uses and imports and processing.
"MIR604 maize received a positive safety assessment from the European Food Safety Authority and underwent the full authorisation procedure set up in the EU legislation," the statement said.
The clearance should ease short-term concerns over the supply of affordable vegetable proteins used by livestock farms, according to Alexander Doering, secretary general of European feed manufacturers' association Fefac.
"We expect imports to resume now. Basically from now on, imports from North America such as soy products and also corn products will be considered legal in EU territory," Doering added.
However, he said the EU's zero-tolerance policy gave rise to some uncertainty.
"We could face new problems ... if there are new traces of unauthorized GMOs in imports," he said.
