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The Finnish Minister of Agriculture, Sirkka-Liisa Anttilahat, has called upon the food industry in her country to provide labelling for meat derived from animals fed with genetically modified feed.

The minister had reacted thereby to notice given by two Finnish meat producers at the beginning of the week announcing their intention to commence the import of animal feed containing GM soybeans for the first time. On the occasion of a meeting of her Centre Party (Suomen Keskusta), Anttilahat stated, “Consumers must have the right to know how, and with what sort of feed, meat is produced.” Under the applicable EU regulations, the import and use of GM feeds are allowed but do not result in the compulsory identification of meat, milk or eggs produced therewith. In a recent statement, the European consumer protection agency, EFSA, declared in accordance with scientific conclusions that foodstuffs produced from animals nourished with GM feeds nonetheless are free of genetically modified material.

The Japanese Food Safety Commission last week categorised Agrisure RW, the only genetically modified corn produced in the USA that is not approved for Japan, as safe for humans and animals. Developed by the company Syngenta, this GM maize variety is expected to receive official import approval from the Japanese government next month.

Approval would be important for maize-exporting countries such as the USA, where the insect-resistant Agrisure RW will be cultivated for the first time this year on 0.5 per cent of the total maize area. Experience ultimately has shown that the separation of approved and unapproved products in export goods does not always function completely in practice. Farmers, traders and transporters therefore had criticised that this maize already would be marketed before import approval had been secured in Japan and other important countries such as Mexico, South Korea and Canada.

In such countries, a general import ban on unapproved GM plants exists and minimal traces of unapproved GM plants are not tolerated. In 2000, the accidental mixture of unapproved StarLink maize in a delivery from the USA led to a stark reduction of imports to Japan. As the most significant importer of US maize, receiving 11.8 million tonnes of maize worth approximately 1.7 billion US dollars per year, its approval of Agrisure RW would dispel the remaining risk of unapproved GM maize being found in shiploads designated for this country.

Conversely, the EU has been eliminated almost entirely as an import region for maize from the USA. Of the 23 GM existing maize events, sixteen are unapproved for food import by the EU and twelve are unapproved for feed use.

The Australian government has published a study recommending the cultivation of genetically modified plants. The report “GM Canola - An Information Package” found that GM crops pose no danger to human health or to the environment and are highly valuable for the competitiveness of Australian agriculture. In particular, canola farmers would benefit from GM crops that help to solve problems associated with conventional farming.

The cultivation of GM crops is banned in all Australian states except Queensland. This moratorium expires in New South Wales and Victoria next year and currently is under debate. Farm groups and the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) plead for an end to the moratorium. This view is supported by the Minister of Agriculture, Peter McGauran: "With reviews of the moratoriums underway in four states, Australian farmers will potentially start growing GM canola from 2008."

However, sceptics remain concerned about the risks of genetically modified plants. Judy Carman, director of the Institute of Health and Environmental Research at the University of Adelaide, referred to studies in which rats fed with GM canola were found to have increased liver weight. Louise Sales, spokesperson of Greenpeace Australia, expressed similar concerns and believes that the Australian reputation of being the “cleanest agriculture worldwide” is at stake.

Conversely, the governmental report found no insurmountable issues and referred to Canadian experience with GM canola: “Australia’s main competitor, Canada, has been using genetically modified canola for 10 years with no appreciable loss of market share or price, and enjoys significant agronomic benefits from the technology.”

According to a study published by the governmental agency "Biotechnology Australia", public support for genetically modified food crops has risen dramatically within the last two years. Acceptance grew from 46 percent in 2005 to 73 percent in 2007.

Two large meat producers in Finland are introducing genetically modified feeds for their livestock, according to a report by a Finnish newspaper. Smaller companies may also follow this decision by LSO Foods and Atria. Consumers will not recognise the difference because there is no legal requirement to label meat from animals fed on GM feeds.

The CEO of LSO foods, Tero Hemmilä, says: “EU legislation is straightforward. The genetic modifications in a plant are not passed onto animal tissue through digestion, or from there into meat or milk. Consequently, there is no need to mark it down.”

Matti Tikkakoski from Atria believes that non-modified feed will soon be both prohibitively expensive and difficult to obtain. He also says that he does not believe that it will be possible to deliver separate pork products to food stores – those raised on GM soybeans and those on conventional feeds. “When feeds are imported from around the world, the different types of bean are bound to get mixed up at some point.”

However, environmental organisations have criticised the use of genetically modified feeds. The Finnish League for Nature Protection is calling for mandatory labelling to tell consumers whether GM feeds have been used during meat production. The issue also represents a dilemma for the Finnish Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (MTK). On the one hand, MTK wants to promote Finnish food as pure and unaltered, but on the other hand, it needs to promote the economic interests of its farmers. The chairman of the organisation states, “I would not use GM feed on my farm, because its long-term effects have not been sufficiently studied. I don’t want our members to be blamed if something unfortunate happens. Let’s let the big countries do it first. We will have time to follow later.”

The USDA has deregulated Monsanto’s GM soybean RReady2Yield following a review of scientific data. According to Monsanto, the soybean is set to go on sale in limited US markets in 2009 and nationwide in 2010. Monsanto has also applied for import approval for the new beans in the EU, China and other countries and hopes to obtain authorisation by the time national US distribution starts.

The beans are similar to Monsanto’s first strain of engineered seeds and are resistant to the herbicide Roundup, but the new line increases yields by up to 11 percent, according to the company.

The new soybean variety has been welcomed by the American Soybean Association (ASA). “Higher soybean yields increase the ability of US soybean growers to supply food, feed, and fuel markets domestically and around the globe,” ASA President John Hoffman said in a statement. “ASA will continue to monitor the progress being made on global regulatory reviews and approvals”, he added. “Timely overseas regulatory approvals are critical.”

A report published by the European Commission in June has found that slow approvals in the EU compared to the US could seriously affect the EU meat industry due to a shortage of soybean imports. While an average of only 15 months is needed for US approvals, up to 10 years are required in the EU.

The UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) has given provisional approval for a GM ingredient to be used in ice cream production. The ingredient is a protein produced from the fermentation of genetically modified baker’s yeast. The FSA’s decision will now be referred to other European Union Member States for further comment.

The ingredient is named ice structuring protein (ISP) and occurs naturally in a variety of living organisms, such as fish, plants and insects. ISPs protect these organisms from tissue damage in very cold conditions by modifying the size and shape of ice crystals. The food company Unilever uses ISPs from pout fish to influence ice structure formation during the manufacture of ice creams. To produce the protein, Unilever has developed genetically modified yeast carrying the synthetic ISP gene, which will be produced in sealed vessels.

In its application Unilever said, the new process is in response to the growing challenge to develop ice cream with fewer calories and less fat.

The European Commission stated earlier this year that ingredients produced by fermentation of GM micro-organisms are not required to be labelled as GM products. However, the FSA said that this was a special case because of “the use of a synthetic gene sequence and the presence of a significant proportion of cellular by-products from the fermentation process.” It recommended that consumers should be informed that ingredients are made using GM yeast on the food packaging or by “other easily accessible routes”.

Products containing ISPs have been on the market for several years in a number of countries, including the USA, the Philippines and Mexico. Unilever hopes to market the first products in Europe in 2008.

Capsules of an altered form of insulin produced in genetically modified plants might restore the body’s ability to produce insulin, according to researchers at the University of Central Florida (USA). The research team led by Henry Daniell genetically engineered tobacco plants with the insulin gene and administered freeze-dried plant cells to five-week-old diabetic mice as a powder. By the end of the study, the diabetic mice had normal blood and urine sugar levels and their cells were producing normal levels of insulin.

The results indicate that insulin capsules could someday be used to prevent diabetes, Daniell said. He proposed to use lettuce instead of tobacco, because the crop can be produced cheaply and avoids the negative stigma associated with tobacco. Although produced in lettuce, the insulin would be delivered to humans as a powder in capsules to carefully control the dosage.

Insulin is required to regulate the sugar levels in the human body. Insulin-dependent, or Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks and destroys insulin and insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Insulin is typically given through injections and not pills, so the hormone can go straight into the bloodstream. In Daniell’s method, plant cell walls initially prevent insulin from degrading in the digestive tract. When the plant cells containing insulin reach the intestine, bacteria living there begin to slowly break down the cell walls and release insulin into the bloodstream.