Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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Question 226: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will report on recent discoveries of genetically modified food in retail outlets; the action she has taken on foot of same; the extent of the inspection and testing regime that is in place to ensure that GM food is not in the food chain; the progress made towards achieving the stated goal in the 1997 Programme for Government of keeping Ireland GM free; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33457/06]

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), which is the competent authority in Ireland for the enforcement of EU legislation regarding genetically modified (GM) foods, carries out checks on the marketplace for compliance with GM legislation on an on-going basis.

Ireland, in common with other Member States and as required by EU rules, applies EU legislation on GM foods whether produced within the EU or imported. Under EU rules, only authorised GM foods, or foods containing ingredients thereof, can be placed on the market. The safety of GM products is independently assessed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on a case-by-case basis and GM food is required to be clearly labelled thus ensuring greater consumer confidence and choice.

The European Commission brought in emergency measures on 23 August last (Commission Decision 2006/578/EC) requiring certification of imported long grain rice as a result of the US authorities revealing that they had found traces of a genetically modified rice line in rice batches from Arkansas and Missouri of a type which is not approved for commercial use on either side of the Atlantic: the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health (which consists of representatives of the Member States) backed this decision at an emergency meeting two days later. These emergency measures were superseded by Commission Decision 2006/601/EC of 5 September 2006 on emergency measures regarding the non-authorised genetically modified organism LL RICE 601 in rice products. This Decision stipulates that EU Member States may only allow certain long grain rice products on the EU market where they are accompanied by analytical certification that the rice in question is not present. The Commission Decision also stipulates that Member States must carry out random sampling and analysis of rice products already on the market to verify its absence.

The FSAI, as competent authority for GM foods, has carried out random sampling and testing of rice in the Irish retail sector in line with the Commission Decision: of nineteen samples tested to date, four brands of long grain rice have produced positive results for GM LL RICE 601. Last September, the FSAI notified the European Commission of these unfavourable results. The company in question voluntarily removed all batches of that product from sale in Ireland.

In October, the FSAI forwarded three further notifications to the Commission: in all cases, the batches concerned have been removed from sale. The FSAI has also made contact with Customs and Excise to ensure that only long grain rice products with the required clearance certificates are allowed into Ireland.

In a separate development, on 14 September the Scientific Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms of EFSA concluded that 'The available data are not sufficient to allow the safety of LL RICE 601 to be assessed in accordance with the EFSA guidance for risk assessment. However, on the basis of the available molecular and compositional data and on the toxicological profile of PAT proteins, EFSA considers that the consumption of imported long grain rice containing trace levels of LL RICE 601 is not likely to pose an imminent safety concern to humans or animals.'

Government policy with regard to Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) is based on the Report of the Inter-Departmental Group on Modern Biotechnology published in October 2000. In line with the recommendations of this report, my Department adopts a 'positive but precautionary' approach to the issue of GM foods which reflects the priority given to consumer choice and safety.