§ Joan RuddockTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will support the European proposal not to label foods that contain up to one per cent. of an unapproved GM variety in the forthcoming European negotiations on traceability and labelling. [29503]
§ Mr. MeacherWhile recognising that zero presence of non-EU approved GMOs may be impractical, the Government have reservations about the approach proposed by the European Commission for addressing the issue. Other options need to be explored. The best means of overcoming the problem of non-approved GMOs is to clear the backlog of decisions required on outstanding applications for approval within the EU, subject to labelling and traceability conditions being required in each case.