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15 years of "Ohne GenTechnik": Entrepreneurs appeal to politics for freedom of choice
Bernhard Pointner and Felix Ahlers at the VLOG .:. Forum 2024, Photo: Concept Photography Berlin
The businesses Alb-Gold, Alnatura, Andechser and dm are also among the initiators. In the Summer of 2024, they want to win over as supporters numerous other businesses across the EU.
"Together with our 1,600 farmers, we are opposing the EU Commission's plans for genetic engineering in the interests of consumer protection and fair competition. We want the labelling and traceability obligations adopted by the EU Parliament to remain in force. According to a recent GfK survey, the majority of our regular customers reject genetically modified food," said Bernhard Pointner, Managing Director of the Berchtesgadener Land dairy cooperative, at the "VLOG Forum 2024" organised by the German Association of Food without Genetic Engineering (VLOG) in Berlin.
Felix Ahlers, CEO of frozen food manufacturer Frosta, added: "Transparency creates trust. FRoSTA has stood for maximum transparency for over 20 years. Everyone should be able to understand whether a food product has been produced with or without genetic engineering so that they can make the right decision. Only with that knowledge can food producers and farmers present themselves as different. That is why the labelling obligation must be maintained also for new genetic engineering.
The open letter to the agriculture ministers of all EU Member States is already available in eight EU languages on the VLOG website and can be signed by food businesses.
The background to this is the EU Commission's plans to largely abolish the labelling requirement for new genetic engineering in food. The legislative project could not be finalised before the European elections.
In any case, the ball is currently in the court of the EU agriculture ministers. According to insiders, they are unlikely to reach an agreement in the short term. At least that is what the otherwise controversial experts Heike Moldenhauer (ENGA), Eva Bell (BMEL) and Klaus Berend (EU Commission) largely agreed on at the VLOG Forum.
The conference to mark the 15th anniversary of the "Ohne GenTechnik" seal was opened by Ilse Aigner, who described herself as the "midwife of the seal" in her welcoming address. Aigner introduced the "green diamond" as a government seal in 2009 when she was Federal Minister of Agriculture.
"The development of the "Ohne Gentechnik" seal is an outstanding success story in which we have all played a part. In other words, we have succeeded: The baby from the past has learnt to walk," said the current President of the Bavarian State Parliament. "You create clarity, you are a guarantor for food without genetic engineering and you win over people and markets," said Aigner, addressing the more than 100 participants from the food and feed industry, politics, associations and the media.
Other presentations, panels and panel discussions dealt with detection methods for new genetic engineering, future prospects for the "Ohne GenTechnik" seal and, last but not least, its success to date: having started out as a small niche, products with the green diamond have long since conquered the broad market and recently generated annual sales of over 17 billion euros at supermarket checkouts.
VLOG Forum 2024: Livestream, programme and information (in German)
Businesses for freedom of choice: Open letter to the EU agriculture ministers in summer 2024