GMOs, European Commission authorises the import of a new soya variety

The European Commission today authorised the import of a new genetically modified soya variety for human and animal consumption on the EU market. The EU executive's decision came at the end of a stalemate that has been systematically repeating itself for years in the European decision-making process, whereby in the absence of a qualified majority for or against in the technical committee composed of member states, the final decision on authorisation lies with the Commission. The green light follows, however, as required by European law, the favourable scientific assessment by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that the food is 'as safe as its conventional counterpart'.

The authorisation concerns only the import and not the cultivation of the GM soya variety, and is valid for 10 years. Any product derived from this variety will also be subject to EU labelling and traceability rules, underlines a note from the EU executive which specifies that the Commission has 'obeyed its legal obligation to decide on this authorisation after the member states failed to reach a qualified majority either for or against the authorisation'.

Soya is a strategic raw material for the agri-food industry, mainly used in animal feed but with growing uses also in the biofuel sector, of which the European Union has a deficit of 90%. Italy is the leading European producer with about one million tonnes of non-GMO seeds and a deficit of 80%, just below the European one.

The global market is dominated by the (ever-growing) genetically modified productions of Brazil, which with a national harvest of 170 million tonnes covers 70% of EU requirements, and the USA. This is why for years there has been talk in Europe of the need for a protein plan under the Common Agricultural Policy, but it has never got off the ground.

Years ago, with the 2001 regulation, Europe effectively decided not to produce GMOs, but continues to import them, while the Italian supply chain is organising itself with a system of specific incentives and supply chain contracts between producers and processing industry to increase national production. With giants like the Vicenza-based agro-industrial group Cereal Docks that not only buys more than half of the national production but also imports and processes GM soya in Italian plants. But the guarantee of supplies is now also threatened by the new European regulation on deforestation, which prohibits the import of products obtained on deforested land, jeopardising imports from Brazil through a complex system of certifications. A chance to increase domestic production could instead come from the long-awaited EU green light for new agricultural biotechnologies.