RIYADH, 9 February 2005 — An experts’ committee has been set up to formulate draft standards for genetically modified food.
This was disclosed to Arab News by Dr. Fawaz Al-Alami, deputy minister of commerce and industry, who said the Kingdom is currently importing genetically modified products with a threshold of one percent for safety considerations. This threshold applies to agricultural plants (genetically modified organisms). Animal GMO is banned not only in the Kingdom but in many countries in view of its cloning possibilities.
“But we are not going to use genetically modified seeds as they are banned. We have adequate stocks of conventional seeds,” the deputy minister said.
Dr. Al-Alami also announced that his ministry has issued 74 licenses for setting up accredited laboratories in the private sector for issuing certificates under the International Conformity Certificate Program (ICCP). An internationally known company will open an office in the Kingdom to inspect and certify the facilities of new labs yet to be established. Based on its certificate, the ministry will issue the license.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a symposium on genetically modified food (GMF) at the Saudi Arabian Standards Organization (SASO) yesterday. One of the themes of the symposium — “Food Labeling” — proved a controversial issue. US delegate Richard White objected to food labeling on the ground that the display of ingredients on the label could discourage consumers from buying the product and constitute a technical barrier to trade.
Acknowledging the sharp differences, the minister said the issue remains to be resolved, given the sensitivities in the Kingdom. “The consumer has a right to know the contents of the foodstuff that he is going to buy.”
Dr. Al-Alami hoped the issue would be resolved at an international symposium that SASO is organizing. The US, Canada and Argentina have expressed concerns over the food labeling practice; the European countries as well as Australia and New Zealand support food labeling. He said the practice is compatible with the concept of transparency, one of the requirements for accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“The experts committee will be given 90 days to produce the draft standards. These draft standards will be circulated among various countries in line with our commitment to transparency required under the WTO regime. They will be given another 90 days for reviewing these draft standards followed by an additional two-month period to incorporate the changes in the draft,” the deputy minister said, adding that the final drafts will be submitted to the board of directors of SASO. A final decision will then be taken on whether the GMO threshold will be one percent or more.
A key element of the exercise, he pointed out, would be the fixing of threshold for GM food — the minimum quantity of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the food chain that could be safely tolerated. “This percentage ranges from five percent in some countries to one percent in Saudi Arabia.”
Richard White, director of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Affairs Office of the US Trade Representative, said: “We have some concerns over labeling restrictions on biotech foods that have been in place for sometime in the Kingdom. We see this as an opportunity for the US and other countries to provide information to representatives from a number of Saudi ministries on our experience that biotech foods are safe for consumption.
“We have just heard that there is a lot of misinformation in the public about biotech food. We would like to share our experience with everybody here that in the US we have approved biotech corn, soybeans and canola as well as other vegetable products. The 250 million population of the US has been consuming these biotech food products since 1997.”
White pointed out that around 80 percent each of soybeans and cotton as well as 40-45 percent of corn are biotech products. Referring to the obstacles in the way of biotech products distribution in the Kingdom, the US delegate observed that the labeling policy now in place “is negative, because it implies that there is something wrong with the product and, therefore, US food companies may not use such labels.”
Bart Bilmer, director, Office of Biotechnology, Canada, said food labeling is mandatory in his country. “We also have mandatory labeling for food that has been changed in composition of their nutritional elements which should be mentioned on the label. In Canada, 70 percent of canola and 40 percent each of corn and soybeans are genetically engineered products.”
Dr. Jamil M. Al-Khayri, associate professor of plants biotechnology, King Faisal University, noted that information on labels should be educative or it would look like a statutory warning. He assured the gathering that biotech food is completely safe. He believes it is important to educate the people on the biotech products.
Dr. Ines Gabriela Fastame from the Ministry of International Trade, Argentina, said her country is a main producer and an international exporter of transgenic crops. As much as 99 percent of soybean and 50 percent of corn, 20 percent of cotton produced in Argentina are genetically modified.
Argentina is the world’s third largest exporter of corn, the first in soybean oil, the first in soy meal, and the ninth in corn oil. She said GMOs are not labeled in Argentina, because biotech products can reach commercial status after they pass all scientific risk assessment tests.
Giovanni Monastra, scientific coordinator, National Institute for Research on Food and Nutrition, Rome, said a GMO could be a virus, a bacterium, a fungus, a plant or an animal and is defined by the European Commission as “an organism, with the exception of human beings, in which the genetic material has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination.”
