Feed firms fear loss of GM ingredients

EU animal feed companies have warned that their industry may suffer extra costs of hundreds of millions of euro because of delays in clearing genetically modified crops for feed uses.

They have named 12 GM crop varieties which have been cleared by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), but not ruled on by the European Commission. They include Monsanto’s Droughtgard corn, Vistive Gold soybeans and TruFlex Roundup Ready Canola, plus a BASF soybean trait, a Bayer cotton variety and a Pioneer soybean type.

If even small traces of these unapproved biotech crops are found in feed ingredients, the shipments could be blocked at EU ports — as happened four years ago, before the Commission relaxed some import restrictions.

EU animal feed companies say these and other pressures caused a 0.6% fall in EU compound feed production last year, to 153.6m tonnes, the lowest figure since 2011.