GM hot potato passed on

GM-free foods are expected to become an important market for farmers and food processors in Europe. But the anti-GM sector has questioned if Brussels will allow consumers the freedom to choose products which are guaranteed GM free.

They fear proposals which would allow maize and oilseed rape seed lots to contain up to 0.3% of genetically modified organisms without being labelled - and thus mark the end of consumer freedom of choice.

So far, EU rules allowed for a threshold of 0.9% of accidental presence of GM material.