Monitoring the Presence of GM Ingredients on the Irish Market, 2022

Authorised Genetically Modified (GM) food and food ingredients are allowed on the EU market once they comply with Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 and Regulation (EC) No 1830/2003. 

Labelling on any food product containing or consisting of authorised GM ingredients is mandatory where the GM proportion of the overall ingredient is higher than 0.9 %. A ‘GM-free’ label indicates that products do not contain or are not produced using GM ingredients and must not mislead the consumer as per Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers (FIC).

In 2022 the Environmental Health Services of the Health Service Executive collected 63 food samples which were analysed by the Public Analyst’s Laboratory in Cork for the presence of GM ingredients. Samples were first screened for (1) species-specific DNA elements: maize, rice and soybean, (2) generic recombinant DNA elements such as the 35S promoter (P-35S) and the nos terminator (T-nos) and (3) recombinant trait-specific elements such as ctp2-cp4epsps and Cry1Ab/Ac. Subsequently, the identification of specific GM events was performed and, when identified, these were quantified where possible. 

Table 1 shows the results of this annual monitoring. One corn sample was found to be non-compliant with EU law on GM food and FIC.