On 30th of April 2004, 24 national enforcement laboratories from the acceding countries have joined the European Network of Genetically Modified Organisms’ (GMO) Laboratories (ENGL).
The ENGL, which previously included 47 control laboratories from Member States will expand to 71 with 24 labs from the Acceding Countries.
An enlarged ENGL will improve the network’s ability to detect and screen GMOs and provide a sound scientific basis for enforcing biotechnology legislation.
The network will assist the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) to manage the detection, identification and quantification of GMOs in food and feed samples across Europe.
Under new European Union regulations the JRC has been acting since 18 April as the Community Reference Laboratory (CRL), with the role of co-ordinating the validation of detection methods.
Since this date, applications for GM food or feed can now only be granted if the CRL decides, through a series of tests, that the application’s methods are accurate and effective in detecting GMOs in food and feed samples.
This will mean an enlarged network to improve GMO control system, strong and harmonised controls and the reinforcement of consumer choice.
Further information can be found at the Commission’s website .
