GM feed in 90% imported meat

According to EU figures, the current price difference between GMO and non-GMO feed is around £50 per tonne.

“It is a great irony that we import poultry, pig and beef meat from outside the EU from animals fed on products we deny our own farmers. This helps no-one, consumers have no idea whether their meat has been fed on GM and farmers have to pay through the nose for feed,” said Neil Parish, chairman of the European Parliament agriculture committee.

Parish has asked the Commission to relook and review its GM zero-tolerance standpoint on imported feed.

“I am not suggesting a free for all on GM, but we must ensure that any threshold is fair and achievable for non GM feed. With new varieties of GM soya being planted around the world, it will be virtually impossible to guarantee that any shipment into the EU is truly GM-free. I doubt anyone will bother sending GM-free shipments to the EU as a result and this will make non-GM feed even scarcer and more expensive for our farmers,” said Parish.

Parish has also urged the Commission to speed up its GM approvals process, which is currently lagging years behind the rest of the world - a situation that is placing UK farmers at a huge competitive disadvantage.
Feed prices are currently crippling the British livestock sector, it has been reported.