News

Status quo and prospects for new genetic engineering regulations
At the International Non-GMO Summit 2024, Dr Dietmar Vybiral from the Austrian Ministry of Health provided an up-to-date overview of the controversial draft for a new EU GMO regulation and possible developments under the upcoming Council presidencies.

Hardly any NGT plants ready-to-market worldwide, hardly any climate-resilient varieties
At the International Non-GMO Summit 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany, Dr Samson Simon from the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) provided an up-to-date overview of market-ready and planned NGT plants in Europe and worldwide.

Traces of genetic engineering in organic rice - The story of a traceability investigation
In July 2023, the food safety monitoring authorities in the German state of Hesse discovered genetic engineering contamination in a sample of organic basmati rice from Pakistan. The source could be an experimental release in 2001. The case was only reported to the EU alert system with a delay of over a year.

Non-GMO Summit 2024: international Non-GMO industry calls for transparency on NGTs and fair cooperation throughout the whole value chain
More than 160 representatives from a thriving international Non-GMO industry and leading European associations from 23 countries and four continents met on 7th and 8th October 2024 at the ‘International Non-GMO Summit 2024’ in Frankfurt.

Non-GMO industry meets for the "International Non-GMO Summit"
The leading European associations of the Non-GMO food and feed industry are hosting the "International Non-GMO Summit 2024" in Frankfurt am Main on 7-8 October 2024. International experts from politics, business, agricultural production and science will present the latest on trends in global Non-GMO markets and on the current debate in the EU on new genomic techniques (NGTs).

EU Member States position themselves regarding Hungarian NGT paper
The statements of 15 EU Member States in an informal enquiry by the Hungarian Council Presidency on the unresolved issues relating to the deregulation of new genetic engineering techniques (NGT) have been published. The NGT supporters insist on the tried arguments, while the opponents of deregulation introduce new aspects. One country unexpectedly changes its position.

GMO-free milk accounts for over 75 percent of total German milk volume
Well over three-quarters of milk in 2023 was produced in Germany without genetic engineering, 72.1 percent conventionally and 4.5 percent under organic farming criteria. Many dairies, including the Berchtesgadener Land dairy, help ensuring that GMO-free milk is available at a consistently high level.

Campaign for GMO-free food
From 13 September to 13 October 2024, an alliance of associations and initiatives is promoting a campaign for a GMO-free agriculture and food industry. Numerous events will draw attention to the threats posed to food production without genetic engineering by the deregulation of EU genetic engineering legislation. 19 September marks "GMO-free food day".

European enterprises call for rigorous labelling of NGTs
Dr István Nagy, current EU Council President for Agriculture and Fisheries, met today with representatives of a business initiative to submit an Open Letter “Food Industry for Freedom of Choice”. 376 businesses from the food industry in 16 EU Member States have signed the letter. Among them are renowned industry giants as the REWE Group, the third largest food retailer in the EU, the leading retailer in Austria, SPAR Austria, Europe's largest drugstore chain, dm-drogerie markt and the world's largest organic supermarket chain Biocoop.

Greenpeace supermarket check: "Ohne GenTechnik" seal creates transparency
Greenpeace has regularly surveyed the major grocery chains on their meat ranges since 2020, and on dairy products since 2022. Greenpeace is dissatisfied with the development in the food retail sector regarding the labelling of farming methods. In contrast, the environmental organisation believes that GMO labelling is very well covered by the "Ohne GenTechnik" (Non-GMO) seal. VLOG has asked the food retailers about new genetic engineering.

International conference on the future of the Non-GMO industry
The most important European industry associations of the "Non-GMO" sector will be hosting the "International Non-GMO Summit 2024" in Frankfurt am Main in Germany on 8 October 2024. International experts from politics, business and science will provide information on current important topics and trends in the "Non-GMO" markets worldwide. The focus will be on the ongoing political debate surrounding new genetic engineering and its potential impact on the "Non-GMO" and organic sectors.

Market research: "Ohne GenTechnik" seal scores highly in seal check
In his presentation at the VLOG Forum on the current state of market research into food seals, Dr Holger Buxel gave the "Ohne GenTechnik" seal consistently good marks. You can find a summary of the results and a video of the entire presentation in our press release.

Feasibility study: Detection methods for new genetic engineering are realistic
The research project on "Detection and identification methods for genome-edited plants", which has been funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) since January 2021, presented interesting results in July this year. According to these results, the detection of NGT plants is possible and reliable tests can be developed for this purpose.
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Detection methods for new genetic engineering: DARWIN Project presented at the VLOG Forum
The EU-funded international research project DARWIN is developing innovative detection methods for the traceability and transparency of products from new genetic engineering. First-hand information was provided at the VLOG Forum in Berlin.

Hungary opens the debate on genetic engineering deregulation
The first EU Council working group on the regulation of new genomic technologies (NGT) under the Hungarian Council Presidency will meet on 19 July 2024. In this discussion paper, Hungary raises fundamental questions about the EU Commission's draft legislation. Member States call for far-reaching changes.

DARWIN Project: Giessen University researches consumer behaviour regarding new genetic engineering
Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU) is part of the EU research project DARWIN and is looking into questions of acceptance, transparency, knowledge transfer and communication on the subject of new genetic engineering.