In the processing chain co-mingling becomes more of a problem. It mentions a threshold, but doesn't say what it should be. It mentions testing, but doesn't define a test method. Since 1996, when the US, the biggest soya producer, first considered mixing Monsanto's Roundup Ready GM soya with the conventional crop, UK supermarkets have joined environmental groups such as Greenpeace in campaigning for GM crops to be segregated from normal ones. Segregated processing and DNA testing add to costs.
Some companies have different policies in different European markets.
Unilever, for example, is non-GM in Germany, where the backlash came much earlier, but as yet not in the UK, where its products are slated to be delisted by the Vegetarian Society. Firms that have gone non-GM have had in effect to take the law into their own hands, setting up audit trails of 'identity preserved' crops and fixing their own permitted levels of accidental contamination. Labelling is another problem. The EU regulation requires labelling only of foods that contain genetically modified soya and maize, but excludes ingredients derived from them such as lecithins, soya oil and maize starches, which are in 60 per cent of the food we eat - everything from baby food to beer and chocolate. The EU has promised to clarify the situation for these foods, but has not yet done so.