Labelling of GM food
The Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL) started discussing the implications
of biotechnology for food labelling in the early 1990s, with the aim of develop
appropriate recommendations for the labelling of foods obtained through certain
techniques of genetic modification/genetic engineering. The topic has been
on the agenda of each subsequent CCFL Session, but, to date, consensus on the
guidelines or recommendations to be adopted has not been reached.
Various attempts and intersessional mechanisms have been made to break through
the difficulties encountered. Most recently, as there remains considerable
support to continue work on this topic, the 34th session of the CCFL in December
2006 agreed to establish a physical Working Group to consider all relevant
issues in order to identify the main problems, and take into account the experience
of the countries that had established relevant regulations.
It was agreed that the Working Group would be held in Norway in early 2007,
and its report will be presented at the 35th Session of the CCFL.
In the meantime, the 34 th session of CCFL agreed to retain at Step 7 the
Draft Amendment to the General Standard for the Labelling of Prepackaged Foods (Draft
Recommendations for the Labelling of Foods Obtained through Certain Techniques
of Genetic Modification/Genetic Engineering: Definitions), and to retain at
Step 4 the Proposed Draft Guidelines for the Labelling of Food and Food Ingredients
Obtained through Certain Techniques of Genetic Modification/Genetic Engineering:
Labelling Provisions, for further consideration at the next CCFL session taking
into account the outcome of the physical working group on the matter. |
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