BVL welcomes Cibus test: it's about the mutation, not its cause

At an expert meeting on detection methods for "New GMO" plants, representatives of the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) expressly welcomed the publication of the test for Cibus "Gene Editing" canola by VLOG, Greenpeace and others in September 2020. Such detection, they said, was about identifying the mutation, not its cause.

Expert panel in the "Bundestag" - New GMOs: Use detection methods, ensure GMO free food and feed!

„New GMOs" are also GMOs, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) clarified in 2018. In order to ensure that no illegal GMO-plants enter our food and feed it is necessary to use reliable detection methods. This was the topic of an expert panel with representatives of authorities and other experts in the German Parliament on 22 Feb 2021.

Czech and German "Ohne Gentechnik" standards mutually recognized

After a year of intensive detailed work, the Czech feed association SKK and VLOG have reached an agreement on the mutual recognition of their "Ohne Gentechnik" standards. This is an important step for cross-border trade, for German and Czech producers - and also for consumers.

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What are we committed to?

Deregulation threatens “Ohne Gentechnik”

The “Ohne Gentechnik” segment of the agriculture, processing, trading and marketing industries is booming in many European countries. But products made with new genetic engineering methods pose a massive economic threat to that segment. Consistent with the European Court of Justice (ECJ)’s ruling, the “Ohne Gentechnik” business sector advocates that all products made with the new genetic engineering methods be regulated as “genetically engineered”. Germany’s VLOG and Austria’s ARGE Gentechnik-frei made this clear in the EU Commission’s stakeholder survey in the spring of 2020. A summary of our responses can be found in this document.

“Gene editing” detection method

Genetic engineering is genetic engineering and always will be. In the EU, the same statutory rules apply to plants produced with the new genetic engineering methods, such as gene editing (including CRISPR, TALEN and ODM), as to all other genetically engineered plants. The European Court of Justice made this clear in 2018. Therefore, methods for detecting gene-edited plants are urgently needed. VLOG and other associations have sponsored the development of such a method and are campaigning for its use in government GMO controls.

New seal users & members

Frisch E Center

Obermeier Lohner GbR

Dolomites Milk Srl/GmbH

Anzenberger Fleischhandel GmbH

“‘Ohne GenTechnik’ labelling was one of the most important projects in my tenure as Federal Minister of Agriculture. I am therefore pleased with its success story, which benefits so many farmers and processors. Those who wish to make well-informed shopping decisions need reliable information. This also applies to new genetic engineering methods and the products made with them”.

Ilse Aigner, President Bavarian Parliament, 2018

“Consumers want to know what is in their food and how that food is made. The vast majority do not want GMOs in the fields or on their plates. The ‘Ohne GenTechnik’ seal creates the necessary transparency for a confident shopping decision”.

Klaus Müller, Board member Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband (vzbv), 2020

“I am fighting so that one day we will not need this seal anymore – because everything is non-GMO. The VLOG and its widely used seal help create and strengthen public awareness of this goal”.

Sarah Wiener, chef, entrepreneur, author and EU delegate, 2020

“The ‘Ohne GenTechnik’ seal enables people to protect the environment on an international scale when shopping: The logo on milk, eggs and meat shows consumers that no genetically modified plants, e.g., from South America, have wound up in the animals’ feeding troughs. CRISPR genetic engineering must certainly be regulated and labelled so the seal can continue to guarantee freedom of choice”.

Prof. Dr. Hubert Weiger, Honorary Chairman Bund für Umwelt- und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND), 2020

“The REWE Group has been a member of VLOG since 2012. It is important for us that our products be clearly labelled so our customers can make well-informed choices. It is also part of our quality standard that the soy feed used in our own brand products must be GMO-free. We rely on the VLOG Standard to ensure this”.

Dr. Daniela Büchel, Divisional Management Board member REWE Group, 2020

“The VLOG Standard provides us with a practical framework for ensuring that feed production is GMO-free. I contribute my company’s experience in ‘Ohne Gentechnik’ compound feed production to the VLOG expert group and actively collaborate in the further development of the VLOG Standard”.