EU worry at lack of GM food testing in Ireland

Non-compliant genetically modified food could be sold in Ireland due to shortcomings in tests carried out at the country’s main laboratory for analysing genetically modified organisms (GMOs), EU food safety officials have warned.

Inspectors from the European Commission’s Directorate General for Health and Food Safety said the lack of laboratory capacity at the Public Analyst’s Laboratory (PAL), which is located in St Finbarr’s Hospital in Cork, limits the number of samples that can be analysed.

The PAL is one of two laboratories responsible for analysis of GMOs used in food, feed, and seed in the Republic. The other is the UK’s Food and Environment Research Agency based in York, which is Ireland’s national reference laboratory.