§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on Article 8 of the Novel Foods Regulations (258/97/EC), with particular reference to the substantial equivalence criteria; and what plans he has to review those criteria. [44291]
§ Mr. RookerThe labelling rules in the Novel Foods and Novel Food Ingredients Regulation (258/97) apply to all foods and food ingredients covered by the regulation including those considered under the simplified criteria on the grounds of substantial equivalence. There are no plans to review this regulation at this time. However, last month, detailed rules for labelling of genetically modified (GM) soya and maize ingredients were agreed which require all foods to be labelled where any material arising from the genetic modification process is present. These rules are expected to set a precedent for the way all future GM foods will be required to be labelled in Europe.