Safeguards to preserve feed supply
FEFAC president Patrick Vanden Avenne noted the new Commission proposal on GM cultivation as a proactive attempt to move out of the present political “deadlock” regarding the implementation of the EU GM legislation.
He expressed, however, his deep concern that the Commission proposal “may further exacerbate feed supply problems to EU livestock farmers due to the EU high dependence on vital protein feed imports. This will further erode their competiveness ultimately leading to the export of EU livestock sector”.
He recalled the urgent need for the EU compound feed and premix industry for a clear, practical “technical solution” regarding trace levels of risk-assessed GM crops not yet authorised in Europe, as first requested by the College of Commissioners in May 2008. He stated that “EU livestock farmers and feed manufacturers already paid a very high price due to the absence of practical threshold levels. The new proposal may actually further increase legal uncertainties for feed manufacturers and distortion of competition among EU livestock farmers”.
The FEFAC president hoped that the European Commission will seriously take the request of all EU food and feed chain partners to rapidly adopt the “technical solution” while taking safeguard measures to avoid an implosion of the internal market for seed, feed and food, which may result from uncoordinated actions of Member States against which operators can take no coverage.
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