The growing confusion over EU imports of oilseeds and grains containing traces of GMO material (see feature article, OFI November 2009) has prompted the international Grain and Feed Trades Association (GAFTA) and other EU feed industry bodies to call for an urgent solution within the EU political framework. The issue has arisen because the EU’s Council of Ministers has failed to reach a qualified majority on recommendations and decisions made by the European Commission over GM approvals.

The European Commission (EC) recently sidelined a proposal from the feed industry to soften its zero tolerance policy on imports of unapproved GM crops, which has prompted a growing protest among EU feed compounders at the “long and sustained standstill” over the issue. While GAFTA has called on the EC to take action to move the matter forward, others are hoping that the Council of Ministers will create some relief by accelerating admissions of individual varieties, as a pragmatic solution.

Meanwhile, European Union agricultural ministers have also blocked GM corn imports from the USA to Europe. During a meeting in Luxembourg in October, where the GM corn was expected to gain approval, EU ministers did not reach an agreement.

Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel, who supported the approval of the corn, urged EU countries to abandon their traditional caution on GM food in the face of shortages of livestock feed products and an increasingly heavy dependence on US food imports.

Two varieties of corn engineered by US companies Monsanto and Pioneer were among the rejected.