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Anuga 2023: Manufacturers and retailers call for the preservation of GMO labelling

Alexander Hissting at Anuga 2023, photo: Karin Heinze, BiO Reporter International

In doing so, they are clearly rejecting the EU Commission's current plan to no longer label a large part of future GM foods and to no longer subject them to risk assessment. The stakeholders involved declare:

Dr Daniela Büchel, Member of the Executive Board of REWE Group: "From REWE Group's point of view, it is also necessary in the area of new genetic engineering methods to subject products made using these methods to an approval procedure including a risk assessment and to continue to take into account the principles of traceability, precaution and labelling."

Wolfgang Ahammer, Managing Director at VFI Oils for Life and Executive Board member of the Association of Organic Food Processors (AöL): "For us as manufacturers committed to 'Ohne Gentechnik' (Non-GMO) and organic foods, it is important that this status is secured by a contoured authorisation practice and by adherence to important market principles such as transparency, burden of proof of the user and product liability."

Eva Kiene, Head of Corporate Communications at Rapunzel Naturkost: "The EU Commission's planned erosion of the EU law on genetic engineering is completely unacceptable to us as a manufacturer of organic food. Rapunzel Naturkost - like all organic food manufacturers - depends on offering consumers the best organic food quality without genetic engineering."

Arlend Huober, Co-Managing Director at Huober Brezel: "The organic food industry is demonstrably the most innovative concept for a sustainable food economy. In order to actually secure people's freedom of choice and their trust, it is essential for us that new genomic technologies are also labelled as genetic engineering."

Alexander Hissting, Association for Food without Genetic Engineering (VLOG): "The EU Commission is about to destroy sustainable business values on an enormous scale and to shake the confidence of consumers in politics and the food industry. This must not happen!"

Brunhard Kehl, Association of Organic Food Processors (AöL): "It is crucial that, in relation to NGTs, the polluter pays principle, liability of producers, and the associated transparency are secured to ensure functionality in the market economy and coexistence of different forms of production."  

Heike Moldenhauer, European Non-GMO Industry Association (ENGA): "Clear and complete GMO labelling is a must for consumers and industry. For the European food industry, absence of GMOs is a success model, both for conventional and organic products."

At the joint event of VLOG and AöL at the Anuga fair on 10 October 2023, Heike Moldenhauer from ENGA presented the deregulation plans of the EU Commission and the current status of the legislative process. Representatives from the food industry as well as from VLOG and AöL described the potential, far-reaching consequences of such deregulation. From now on, businesses and associations will jointly raise the issue of obtaining full GMO labelling even more emphatically in public and vis-à-vis politicians and the government.

In recent surveys by the consumer organisation Foodwatch and VLOG, more than 90 percent of Germans demand labelling and risk assessment also for new genetic engineering - and more than 80 percent express the clear expectation that "Ohne Gentechnik" also means "without any new genetic engineering".

Survey: "Ohne GenTechnik" should not include any new genetic engineering either

Survey: Almost everyone wants labelling and risk assessment for new genetic engineering

Full quotes of the businesses

Dr Daniela Büchel, Member of the Executive Board of REWE Group: As REWE Group, we have been closely monitoring international developments in the research and development of new genetic engineering methods for years. We welcome progressive scientific debate, especially when it can support the transformation to sustainable and resilient food systems. Legal certainty and transparency have always been top priorities for us at REWE Group when dealing with new genetic engineering methods. From REWE Group's point of view, it is also necessary in the area of new genetic engineering methods to subject products made using these methods to an approval procedure including a risk assessment and to continue to take into account the principles of traceability, precaution and labelling. This is the only way to secure freedom of choice and responsible purchasing decisions in the future.

Arlend Huober, Co-Managing Director at Huober Brezel: "The organic food industry is demonstrably the most innovative concept for a sustainable food industry, as studies (including from Thünen Institute 2023) have shown. It addresses essential economic development in compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. In order to actually secure people's freedom of choice and their trust, it is essential for us that new genomic technologies are also labelled as genetic engineering."

Eva Kiene, Media Spokesperson, Head of Public Relations and Corporate Communications at Rapunzel Naturkost: "The EU Commission's planned erosion of the EU law on genetic engineering is completely unacceptable to us as a manufacturer of organic food. Rapunzel Naturkost - like all organic food manufacturers – depends on offering consumers the best organic food quality without genetic engineering. Consumers expect this, as surveys show repeatedly. We therefore demand the regulation and labelling of new genetic engineering (NGT) in food as well as its traceability through the entire supply chain."