GM blues threaten livestock sector
The European livestock industry could be in serious trouble unless something is done to address the problem of asynchronous approvals of genetically modified (GM) crops between the EU and the rest of the world, the UK government has acknowledged.
The problem has arisen because countries such as Brazil and Argentina - which supply almost all the soybean meal used for animal feed in Europe - are growing new GM crops before they are cleared for import into the EU - a situation known as 'asynchronous approval'.
"Several new GM soya varieties are due to be commercialised over the next few years, creating the potential for difficulties to occur because of asynchronous GM approvals," said a new report from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Food Standards Agency.
The EU has not even received an application to authorise the import of a 'stacked event' GM soya that industry sources claim could be planted in South America as early as next year.
In a worst-case scenario, where there were no soya imports from Argentina or Brazil, "there would be a 300%+ increase in feed costs, a 24-29% reduction in pig and a 10-68% reduction in poultry production, a reduction in UK meat exports, an increase in meat imports, and a marked increase in meat prices", predicted the report.
With its zero tolerance stance on the import of feedstocks containing unauthorised GM materials, the EU was so out of kilter with the rest of the world that sourcing animal feed could become impossible unless something was done to allow for the adventitious (accidental) presence of unauthorised GM material up to a certain threshold, it added.
