GM foods move delayed
The discussion on the use of genetically modified foods took another turn on 20 October when a committee of European Union Member State food experts postponed a decision on whether to force Italy to reverse a national ban of four genetically modified varieties of maize in food. Italy had banned the foodstuffs earlier this year, claiming that they had been given an inaccurate classification of being 'substantially equivalent' to similar non-GM foodstuffs. The reaction of the EU scientific committee on food in September was that the Italian ban had no scientific basis The European Commission said in a statement that the postponement gave the committee the opportunity to look at the Italian case 'in the context of the proposed strategy [on GM regulation] announced by Commissioners David Byrne and Margot Wallström in July,' which plans to see more labelling and traceability in GM foodstuffs.