A number of European Union governments on Monday urged the bloc's executive to allow tiny traces of genetically modified (GM) material in food imports for human consumption as well as in animal feed, an EU source said.
But it is not yet clear whether enough EU governments support the change to force the European Commission to amend its proposal, and a final decision is unlikely before January at the earliest.
The Commission has proposed allowing up to 0.1 percent of unapproved GM material in feed imports, provided the GM crop in question has been approved in the exporting country and there is a valid EU testing method for the unapproved variety.
EU and national officials met in Brussels late on Monday to discuss the draft plans, which are meant to avoid a repeat of last year's disruption to feed imports, when several U.S. grain shipments were blocked after being found to contain traces of unapproved GM material.
A number of member states asked the Commission to include food imports in the proposal, said the source, who was in the meeting and would not specify which countries requested the change.
"They wanted more clarification on why feed and not food. Some welcomed the approach, some were reluctant and some asked for clarification," the source said.
The demand by some states followed warnings from EU importers and the bloc's main trade partners, who have said a feed-only approach would be unworkable because it is impossible to separate the global grain supply chain into food and feed.
The Commission has said it wants to address feed imports first, given that they have the greatest economic impact in terms of overall EU imports, and that a similar solution for food could be agreed in future should the need arise.
Despite the concerns expressed by some EU governments, the question remains whether enough of them are prepared to openly push to include food, given the strength of the public's distaste for GM products in most EU countries.
Several officials in the meeting said their governments still didn't have a final position on the issue, and as a result a committee vote on the Commission's proposal is unlikely before January at the earliest, the source added.
If approved by the committee of member state experts, EU ministers and the European Parliament would then have three months to either accept or reject the proposal, meaning that it could be finalized in the first half of 2011
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