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“Ohne GenTechnik” sales continue to grow
Meanwhile, “Ohne GenTechnik” products already make up over five percent of all food sales in Germany. “After enormous growth in milk and dairy products we are now seeing a consolidation of our growth”, VLOG Managing Director Alexander Hissting commented regarding these figures. “In comparison to milk, pork still has a long way to go to finally meet consumer expectations for “Ohne GenTechnik” products” because, contrary to what consumers assume, 99 percent of pigs in Germany are still being fed with genetically engineered soy. About three-fourths of all German soy imports end up in their feeding troughs.
“So as not to jeopardise the success of the “Ohne GenTechnik” seal and to continue providing consumers with transparency and freedom of choice in the future, the EU Commission must finally act and organise research into methods of detecting products produced through the new genetic engineering methods. Economic operators and national authorities must be able to reliably detect them”, demanded Heike Moldenhauer, VLOG EU Policy Advisor in Brussels. “Even though only two rapeseed/canola and soy plants grown in only two countries are involved so far, our members must be able to safely exclude CMO contamination through US and Canadian imports from their product streams”.
In 2019, the food processing sector sold EUR 8.78 billion of food with the “Ohne GenTechnik” seal. Milk and dairy products played the most important role in this – accounting for EUR 6.02 billion (69 percent). EUR 1.59 billion (18 percent) was generated by poultry meat products, and eggs generated about EUR 850 million (9.7 percent). These figures are based on information from “Ohne GenTechnik” seal licensees. All figures refer to producer sales. VLOG estimates that end-consumer spending on “Ohne GenTechnik” products increases by the food retailers’ margin and the sales tax and should on average be about 27 percent higher than producer sales, thus reaching EUR 11.3 billion. Based solely on the forecasts of current licensees, the Association expects “Ohne GenTechnik” sales to increase by at least five percent in 2020.
The legal basis for the seal is provided by the EC Genetic Engineering Implementation Act (EG-Gentechnik-Durchführungsgesetz / EGGenTDurchfG). In 2009, the then Federal Minister of Agriculture, Ilse Aigner, had a uniform “Ohne GenTechnik” seal designed. In 2010, she transferred licensing and control of the “Ohne GenTechnik” seal exclusively to VLOG.