IN A bid to appease overseas buyers, maize and soybean exports from the US may soon come with a government stamp verifying that they have been kept separate from genetically modified products.
The US Department of Agriculture announced last week that it is considering setting up a voluntary certification scheme to help exporters trade with the European Union and other countries that oppose GM crops or require labelling of GM products. Some suppliers already have segregation procedures in place, but under the proposed system USDA officials would inspect suppliers to guarantee they are meeting standards.
“We’re not going to say that the product doesn’t contain any GMO,” says USDA spokesman Jerry Redding. “We’ll only be certifying the process.”
Advertisement
The idea is that suppliers will be able to hire federal inspectors to review their methods for excluding GM materials, a process which would go all the way from planting through to harvesting, processing and transport. Earlier this year, the European Parliament voted for a far stricter and more elaborate system that would require suppliers to trace food from its source. Attacked by many as costly and impractical, it won’t become law unless it passes a further vote.
Anti-GM activist Jeremy Rifkin believes the USDA’s certification system will be of little consequence to suppliers or European importers. But he sees the move as the agency’s first official admission that separating GM crops is both feasible and worth doing. “The USDA has been fighting this idea of segregation all along,” he says. “It’s a big concession. They’re realising that you can’t force someone to eat something they don’t want to eat.”
Tom Slunecka, the director of development for the National Corn Growers Association, believes suppliers will find a certification system useful, though he’s not convinced the USDA should get involved. “But the concept of standardising, we believe, is a good way to go.”
