Genetically modified food content exceeding 3% must be labeled; the Food and Drug Administration announced this, and civic groups criticized officials for breaking their original promise of 0.9%
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced the day before yesterday that packaged foods, food additives and unpackaged foods whose genetically modified food ingredients exceed 3% must be labeled with the words "genetically modified," to take effect starting in 2016. Legislator Tien Chiu-chin questioned at the Legislative Yuan this morning that the FDA was shielding businesses: not only was the implementation date delayed too long, but last year the FDA promised at the Legislative Yuan that genetically modified food ingredients exceeding 0.9% would have to be labeled as genetically modified, yet now the announcement has relaxed it to 3%. The Homemakers United Foundation also severely condemned the FDA for breaking its promise and demanded that the FDA promptly propose a timetable for lowering the GM labeling threshold from 3% to 0.9%.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chiang Been-huang responded that the start date for GM food labeling would be studied to see whether it could be moved up to June next year; as for the timetable for lowering GM labeling from 3% to 0.9%, FDA Acting Director-General Chiang Yu-mei said it would depend on subsequent monitoring results.
FDA Previously Promised GM Ingredients Exceeding 0.9% Must Be Labeled
Unpackaged Food GM Labeling in Three Phases, Fully Implemented in 2018
Kuo Hua-jen, a professor in the Department of Agronomy at National Taiwan University, believes, "Lowering it from 5% to 3% is still acceptable, but the key is how the FDA plans to subsequently lower it to 0.9%."
Kuo Hua-jen said that after the 3% GM food labeling measure has been in place for a year or two, businesses should have adapted, "and by then it should be possible to lower it to 0.9%, right?" As for GM labeling of unpackaged foods, he believes it should not be divided into three phases, with the slowest waiting until 2018 for implementation. "Packaged food GM labeling may still have some old packaging that needs time to be gradually used up, but for unpackaged GM food labeling, just taking a piece of cardboard and writing 'genetically modified' on it is enough, so it should start now."
Lai Hsiao-fen, Secretary-General of the Homemakers United Foundation, criticized the FDA for its inconsistent policy: it previously agreed that GM ingredients reaching 0.9% would require mandatory labeling, but now the announcement has relaxed it to 3%. "We must severely condemn the FDA of the Ministry of Health and Welfare; they violated the promise they made at the Legislative Yuan at the time."
"The FDA should at least give the public a timetable," Lai Hsiao-fen said. In the future, she still hopes the FDA will lower the currently announced 3% to 0.9%, and she suggested a three-year transition period, after which it would be fully changed to 0.9%.
Relaxation of GM Food Labeling Threshold; Civic Groups Question Whether FDA Is Under Huge Pressure
Huang Chia-lin, founder of the Campus Lunch Goes Non-GMO Team, said that lowering the GM ingredient threshold requiring labeling from over 5% to 3% "can only be called barely satisfactory; progress is always a bit better, but there is obviously still a lot of room for improvement. Why can't it be done at 0.9%?"
"In elementary and junior high school campus lunches today, it is still impossible to ensure that children are eating non-GMO food, and GM labeling of unpackaged foods will not be fully implemented until four years from now. This disregards parents' and students' right to know," Huang Chia-lin said. The fact that Monsanto executives came to Taiwan this year to lobby, and the FDA's breaking of its 0.9% GM labeling promise, occurred close together in time. "We reasonably suspect that the FDA is under some kind of huge pressure."
Huang Chia-lin believes that after the GM food labeling measure is implemented, the FDA should take 0.9% GM labeling as its goal and set out a timetable; in the process, it should understand businesses' difficulties and conduct integrated research on the risks of GM foods. "The FDA needs to propose clear steps. This absolutely cannot be just an appeal by advocacy groups; industry, government and academia all need to be involved in order to achieve a win-win-win for businesses, manufacturers and the public."
Minister of Health and Welfare Chiang Been-huang promised yesterday at the Legislative Yuan that regarding the start date of the GM food labeling regulations, it would be studied to see whether implementation could be moved up to June next year. As for how GM food labeling could go from 3% to 0.9%? FDA Acting Director-General Chiang Yu-mei said: "There is no plan at present; this will depend on the subsequent monitoring results after this measure is implemented."
Asking a ghost to write a prescription? Don't abandon the 0.9% GM labeling promise (April 2014)