International Practices on GM Food Labelling

The international community is working towards a consensual policy on GM food labelling. However, the Codex Alimentarius Commission of the United Nations is unlikely to be able to set internationally agreed standards in near future. At present, policies on GM food labelling vary in different countries and areas:

1) Canada and the United States
Labelling of GM foods is only required when the food is significantly different from its conventional counterpart in terms of composition, nutrition and allergenicity. However, the trade may label other GM foods on a voluntary basis. In Canada, a set of draft guidelines for voluntary labelling of GM foods has been issued in April 2004. While, in the United States, public consultation on draft guidelines for voluntary labelling has been finished but finalisation of the guidelines is still pending.

2) Member countries from the European Union
All products containing GM foods have had to be labelled in countries of the European Union since 1998. This policy was amended by the European Commission in November 2003. The new requirement stipulates that all foods produced from Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) should be labelled, irrespective of whether DNA or protein of GM origin is detectable in the final product. Moreover, conventional foods with adventitious presence of GM materials of higher than 0.9% should also be labelled.

3) Australia and New Zealand
The Australia and New Zealand authorities decided that all food products produced or imported had to be labelled starting from 7 December 2001 when any of their ingredients contains more than 1% GM material. Additional labelling was also required for GM food ingredients with significantly altered characteristics. Highly refined foods, processing aids or food additives with the absence of GM materials, flavours in a concentration no more than 1g/kg in the final food, as well as foods prepared at point of sale are exempted from the GM food labelling requirement.

4) Japan
The Japanese authorities have required five designated agricultural products and 24 processed food items containing GM materials to be labelled starting from April 2001. In January 2003, six more designated processed food items containing GM potato and high oleic acid soya bean are required to be labelled. For the processed food items, only those ingredients that are ranked within the top three constituents in terms of weight and the weight ratio of which account for five percent or more of the total weight have to be labelled. Labelling is not required for oil and sauce, where the original GM materials can no longer be detected.

5) Republic of Korea
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Republic of Korea has required that corn, soya bean and bean sprout which contain more than 3% GM materials have to be labelled starting from March 2001, and potato which contains more than 3% of GM materials has also to be labelled starting from March 2002. Furthermore, the Korea Food and Drug Administration has required labelling of processed foods which contain GM corn, soya bean or bean sprout as one of the top five ingredients with effect from July 2001, and labelling of processed foods which contain GM potato as one of the top five ingredients with effect from 2003.

6) Taiwan
In Taiwan, mandatory labelling of designated foods has been implemented by three phases according to degree of processing of the food products, and the last phase has come into effect from January 2005. Under the labelling requirement, foods containing ingredient of GM soya bean or corn which is more than 5% total weight of the finished product have to be labelled. Moreover, soya bean or corn, which is adventitiously or accidentally mixed with not more than 5% of GM varieties during harvest, storage, transportation or other reasonable causes, is regarded as "non-GM". Food products made of non-GM soya bean or corn may be labelled as “non-GM” or “not-GM”.

7) Mainland China
The Ministry of Agriculture enacted a regulation "Implementation Regulations on Labelling of Agricultural Genetically Modified Organisms" which was effective on 20 March 2002. Under the regulation, five categories of GM crops including soya bean, corn, cotton, rapeseed and tomato, as well as some of their products are required to be labelled. On the other hand, the Ministry of Health enacted a regulation, “Health Administration Regulation on Transgenic Food” , on GM food on 1 July 2002. This regulation stipulated that all GM foods should be properly labelled.

8) Other places in Asia
Some other Asian countries such as Thailand and the Philippines have also set up regulations on GM food labelling.


Source: http://www.fehd.gov.hk/safefood/gmf/gen_info4.html