§ Lord Joplingasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether a retailer offering foods which are free of genetically modified ingredients would face prosecution if minute residues of such ingredients were found in the food; and, if a prosecution was not a possibility under current rules, at what level of genetically modified content could a prosecution be brought. [HL1714]
§ Lord DonoughueThe EC Regulation (1139/98) on the labelling of genetically modified (GM) material derived from GM soya or maize currently sets no threshold below which an offence could not be considered to have been committed. However, a retailer who could demonstrate that he or she had taken all reasonable steps to ensure that the products that he or she was selling were correctly labelled may be able to rely on the due diligence defence allowed under the Food Safety Act 1990 should foods thought to be free of GM ingredients subsequently be found to contain them.