Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 7 • Number 15 • 7th September 2007

EU Food Safety Agency: GM Feeds does Not Affect Meat, Eggs, Dairy

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A statement from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), dated 20 July, says there is no evidence that genetically modified (GM) animal feed can negatively effect meat, eggs and dairy products.

In March this year international environmental group Greenpeace and one million EU citizens petitioned the European Commission to labels food products (such as meat, milk and eggs) from animals that have been fed with genetically modified feed. The European Commission proceeded by requesting the EFSA to assess the potential for transgenes or their products to be incorporated into animal tissues or products such as eggs and milk.

The EFSA study was based on a literature survey and showed that “recombinant DNA did not survive passage through the intact gastrointestinal tract of healthy human subjects fed GM soya.” The study said that the rapid breakdown of DNA and proteins during digestion reduces the chance of them being absorbed intact into the muscle, milk, or eggs of animals. “After ingestion, a rapid degradation into short DNA or peptide fragments is observed in the gastrointestinal tract of animals and humans,” the report stated. “To date, a large number of experimental studies with livestock have shown that recombinant DNA fragments or proteins derived from GM plants have not been detected in tissues, fluids or edible products of farm animals like broilers, cattle, pigs or quails.”

EU regulations that came into force in April 2004 require any food containing a GM ingredient or derivative (like processed oils and lecithin) in amounts of more than 0.9 percent to be labelled as containing GM material. This rule, however, does not apply to products like milk, meat and eggs from animals raised on GM feed.

EU feed imports — mainly soybeans and maize — come from countries like the US, where GM crops are common through the crop supply chain. Approximately 90 percent of the EU’s imports of GM grain and oilseeds are used as animal feed, and EU feed manufacturers say the constant need to import high-protein feed materials makes it impossible to supply non-GMO feed on a large scale.

Additional resources

EFSA statement on the fate of recombinant DNA or proteins in meat, milk and eggs from animals fed with GM feed, 20 July 2007 is available at http://www.efsa.europa.eu/etc/medialib/efsa/science/gmo/statements.Par.0002.File.dat/EFSA_statement_DNA_proteins_gastroint.pdf

“No GMO From Feed Found in Meat, Eggs, EU Agency Says”, PLANETARK, 6 August 2007; “EFSA: GM Feed Does Not Affect Meat”, CHECKBIOTECH, 2 August 2007.