Food Safety

National legislation in selected countries




Resolutions no 656 (1992) and no 289 (1997) regulate research and environmental release of GMOs. They are administered by the National Advisory COmmission on Agricultural Biotechnology (CONABIA) under the Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Foods (SAGPyA). GM food and feed are regulated by Resolutions no 412 (2002), no 511 (1998) and no 289 (1997), administered by the NAtional Service of Health and Agrogood Quality (SENASA). The regulations apply to GMOs that are not substantially equivalent to their conventional counterparts. There are currently no requirements for mandatory labelling of GMOs.




The Brazilian Biosafety Law (24 March 2005) regulates the use of genetic engineering techniques in the ocnstruction, culture, production, manipulation, transportation, transfer, import, export, storage, research, marketing, environmental release and discharfe of genetically modified organisms. The law is administered by the national technical biosafety committee (CTNBio), which has the binding authority to make decisions on import, export, environmental release and all other GMO activities by issuing its technical opinion on a case-by-case basis regarding the biosafety of GMOs; authorizing the import of GMOs and their by-products for research; deciding if a GMO has to undergo a risk assessment prior to release or notl and identifying activities which have the potential to damage the environment. Decree No 4.680, published in April 2003 requires labelling for all foods or food ingredients with a labelling threshold of 1 percent. The decree also mandates the labelling of animals fed with GM grains and products prepared with these animals.




REgulations are administered by the Agricultural GMO Safety Administration Office responsible for safety administration of agricultural GMO imports. The regulations require labelling of certain agricultural GMOs, including those derived from but no longer containing GMOs, as set out in the labelling regulations (currently soybeans andmaize including their seeds, powder, oil and meal; rapeseed, oil and meal; cotton seed; and tomatoes, tomato seed and tomato paste).
The Administrative Measures on Hygiene of GMO Foodstuffs (2001) regulated foods and food additives made from the animals, plants and micro-organisms whose genome composition is modified through biotechnology. They are administered by the GMO Food Expert Commission under the Ministry of Health. Labelling is required for all food product including raw and processed foods.




According to the regulation, Directive requires operators to transmit and retain specified information for GMOs, includingin their unique codes, at all stages of the placing on the market. With regard to labelling, the new regulations extend the current labelling requirements to all GM food or feed, irrespective of whether the GM material can still be detected. Thus, all pre-packaged products consisting of or containing GMOs on the market must be labelled as 'containing GMOs', while products, including bulk quantities that are not packaged and the use of a label is not possible, must be accompanied by the relevant information. The labelling threshold is 0.9 percent, below which GMproducts are exempt from labelling. The threshold for the accidental presence of unauthorized GM material is 0.5 percent, provided that the GMOs, have been judged as safe for human health and the environment by the relevant Scientific Committee or the European Food Authority.




In the United States, GMOs are regulated through existing legislation, which is implemented by three federal agencies, namely USDA, EPA and FDA. There are no mandatory risk assessment requirements and labelling is voluntary.

shanlyn is SAFE @ 10:36 PM