New Project Aims to Develop Novel Screening Methods for GMOs

Researchers from Belgium, Germany and Slovenia, as well as the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the EU Commission, will work together to devise strategies and develop new tools for the detection of genetically modified organisms in food products. The scientists will work under the GMOSeek project, funded by the German Federal Bureau of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) and United Kingdom's Food Standards Agency. The project will be coordinated by Dany Morisset, a scientist at Slovenia's National Institute of Biology (NIB).

In light of the increasing number of applications for approval of GM products in the European Union, the scientists involved in the project believe that there is a need for fast and cost-effective ways of detecting GM materials "to respect the consumer's right to choose between GMO-containing and GMO-free products and to prevent products without authorization from entering the EU market."

Other project partners include the Scientific Institute of Public Health (IPH) and Own Equity of the Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (EV ILVO) in Belgium, JRC's Institute of Health and Consumer Protection and the Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority.

The press release is available at http://www.bvl.bund.de/cln_027/DE/08__PresseInfothek/00__doks__downloads/gmo__seek,templateId=
raw,property=publicationFile.pdf/gmo_seek.pdf