The food industry plays a key role in feeding the global population, but as the number of people is continuously growing and changing, the industry needs to rapidly evolve to meet the increasing demand for high-quality, nutritious and safe food while contributing to a sustainable agri-food system. In this context, are GMOs an asset or a risk for the industry? While some see GMOs as a potential solution, others have expressed their concerns about their potential risks on human health and environment. Regulators are addressing these concerns in a proposal for a new legislation with the aim to better regulate the use and production of GMOs in the food industry.
The food industry in the European Union operates within a legal framework that sets out stringent requirements for the production and distribution of food and feed products before they are placed on the European market. These regulatory requirements protect human and animal health as well as the environment and apply a “precautionary principle”. Consumer associations and NGO’s voiced that many European consumers have concerns about the potential risks of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to the public health and the environment. Therefore, the EU has imposed a thorough authorization procedure setting the basis for the European Commission’s decision on the use of GMOs. The EU legal framework on GMOs includes a wide range of regulations and directives (Table 1), governing their use, patenting, release in the environment and many other areas. According to Directive 2001/18/EC, a genetically modified organism is defined as:
“(…) an organism, with the exception of human beings, in which the genetic material has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination”.
The scope of this definition covers the processes used to create a GMO rather than the end product. Specifically, the Directive lists the techniques that are considered to result in a GMO product. The United States, instead, has based its GMO legislation on the product itself, focusing on the novel genetic characteristics of the product.
Overall, the use and consumption of GMOs remains a worldwide controversial topic. In the European Union, the food industry operates within a strict legal framework that prioritizes the protection of human and animal health and the environment, in line with the “precautionary principle”. Therefore, the authorization procedure involves the scientific assessment by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and a public consultation.
The advent of NGTs, enabling target-specific and more efficient genetic modifications has shown their potential to contribute to a more resilient and sustainable agri-food system by, for example, increasing crop yields, reducing the use of harmful pesticides and improving the nutritional value of food. Additionally, EFSA has assessed and demonstrated that these techniques show less risks than the Established Genome Techniques (EGTs) and conventional breeding methods.The main concerns raised by the European public relate to the potential impact on biodiversity, their coexistence with organic and GMO-free agriculture, the lack of transparency and visibility of GMO containing products. In order for GMO to become a solution for a more sustainable future, the regulators will have to fill these gaps and provide clear guidance to the industry and the consumers.A new proposal on EU GMOs regulation was published on the 5th of July 2023 with the aim to open to the use of plants obtained with specific type of NGTs (targeted mutagenesis and cisgenesis, including intragenesis) to support EU climate and environmental goals, enhance the Union competitiveness in the agri-food sector, while continuing to protect human and animal health and the environment.
It remains to be seen if this proposed amendment of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 will succeed in including GMOs into our European diets as it only focusses on a very limited amount of techniques. Furthermore, a campaign to change consumer perception will be needed to widely accept GMOs in Europe.