The European Commission would like to relax limits on genetically modified organisms in food. But Germany’s agriculture minister supports a no-tolerance policy.

When the Augustinian monk Gregor Johann Mendel crossed a yellow with a green pea 150 years ago, he hardly could have guessed what his experiment would unleash. It was the starting point for a brand new area of science: genetic technology, which polarizes today more than ever.

The latest point of controversy for business, politicians and citizens is the current zero-tolerance policy, which the European Commission would like to relax. Under current regulations, genetically modified organisms (GMO) which have not been approved are not allowed in food products, but regulators would like to change that to allow contamination by up to 0.1 percent.

Germany’s Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner believes the EU’s proposal goes too far.

“When we’re talking about unapproved GMOs, then security must be given highest priority, especially when it comes to food,” Aigner said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio.

Consumers seem to agree with her. But questions remain. How dangerous are food products manipulated in this way? And are we not eating them already without knowing it?

Alexander Hissting prefers the zero tolerance approach

A loophole on zero tolerance

The fact that many foods already include GMOs is usually ignored in the debate on the zero-tolerance policy. Organisms with manipulated genes have been used in Germany for about ten years – provided they have been approved by the EU. Consumers often don’t know that because approved GMOs don’t have to be identified.

“For approved GMOs, we don’t have a zero-tolerance policy,” said Alexander Hissting of Lebensmittel ohne Gentechnik (Food without Genetic Technology), a group that advocates against genetically modified foods. “The laws permit GMOs that have been checked for safety to be used in products to a certain degree.”

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