Is it difficult to establish a traceability system for genetically modified food? Experts say the key lies in whether there is the will to do it

"Draft Amendments to Certain Articles of the Act Governing Food Sanitation" passed its first reading last Wednesday, but a proposal by legislator Tien Chiu-chin requiring that bulk genetically modified soybeans and corn be labeled and that a traceability system be established was rejected by the Ministry of Health and Welfare on the grounds that the provisions were duplicative and impractical. Kuo Hua-jen, a professor in the Department of Agronomy at National Taiwan University, believes that GM crops all come with relevant certificates, and that it is not difficult for businesses to retain documents during transactions. "It just depends on whether the Ministry of Health and Welfare wants to do it." The Legislative Yuan's current session will be extended to 1/14, and with no consensus yet between the two sides, cross-party negotiations are expected to begin soon.

Traceability to prioritize meat products, GM foods put on hold

With food safety problems emerging one after another this year, soy products such as soy milk and tofu made from GM soybeans have drawn attention as well. Legislator Tien Chiu-chin and others proposed adding Article 21-2 to the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation, requiring that relevant certificates be attached when GM foods are imported and that, following the European Union's example, businesses retain transaction records for both the upstream and downstream parties.

However, during the first reading on the 25th, the version put forward by the Food and Drug Administration deleted the wording on flow control and only agreed that GM foods may not be imported without inspection and registration. But existing administrative orders already contain relevant regulations on inspection and registration, so the FDA was merely upgrading the current order into a legal provision, which left Tien Chiu-chin and relevant scholars rather dissatisfied.

Tsai Shu-chen stated that Article 9 of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation, revised in the previous session, already explicitly requires specific industries to establish a traceability system, so there is no need to create a separate provision for GM foods. At present, meat products will be used as the first example, because meat processing is relatively simple; after understanding how the trial run goes, the system will be gradually expanded to other food ingredients. "The European Union also started with meat products and took ten years to establish a traceability system. We will move in this direction too, but the supporting measures must be done well."

Tsai Shu-chen said that currently Taiwan has only approved GM corn and soybeans, but soybeans are a bulk grain, and a single ship will mix soybeans from different regions. In addition, customs does not assign separate commodity codes specifically for GM products at import, so implementing traceability is not easy.

On the 25th, legislators passed an accompanying resolution requiring the Ministry of Health and Welfare to coordinate with customs within six months to establish commodity codes for GM foods, but progress has been slow. In response, Tsai Shu-chen said coordination with the Customs Administration is still under way. "This is the customs authority's responsibility; we can only work hard to communicate with them."

Traceability system hard to establish? Expert: "It's a question of whether they want to do it"

Civil society groups have different views on the Ministry of Health and Welfare's position. Professor Kuo Hua-jen, who has long cared about GM crops, believes that relevant documents are attached when GM crops are imported, and that if customs can establish batch numbers, businesses need only retain upstream and downstream records and match them with import records to build a traceability system. As an example, he said that when a business imports soybeans to press oil, if a downstream business buys the remaining soybean meal as feed, it only needs to keep the receipts. "I don't understand why the FDA says it is so difficult to do; this is simply a question of whether they want to do it."

He said that the spirit of the European Union's traceability system lies in risk control, not in inspecting and tracing every batch. If a problem arises downstream, the government can immediately follow the trail and require businesses to take products off the shelves. If the Ministry of Health and Welfare does not write GM crop traceability into the parent law, administrative negligence will easily occur.

Kuo Hua-jen believes that GM crops must definitely be assigned separate commodity codes so that the Ministry of Health and Welfare can conduct checks at the border and sample-test whether products comply with regulations and whether any unapproved crops are present.

Labeling of bulk GM foods to prioritize corn, whole soybeans and soy milk

In addition, whereas previously only packaged products had to be labeled as genetically modified, after the revision of Article 25 of the draft Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation, bulk GM foods must also be labeled, but this is to be announced separately by the competent authority. Tsai Shu-chen said the first wave targets whole soybeans, corn kernels and soy milk, while other processed products have not yet been determined. However, the scope of bulk goods is too broad: "an elderly woman selling soy milk at the roadside may have no idea whether the soybeans she uses are GM or not." Therefore, priority will be given to businesses registered as factories or companies.

In response, Kuo Hua-jen affirmed the FDA's actions, but stressed that bulk goods are precisely where the problem lies. Labeling cannot be achieved in one step, but the FDA must not evade the issue, and he called on legislators and the public to properly supervise the government.