Food containing GMOs must be approved in the EU. In Germany, the federal states are responsible for monitoring the placing on the market of GMOs and products made from them.
Results of the official analyzes in Baden-Württemberg In 2022
A total of 546 food samples were tested for components from GM plants in Baden-Württemberg. 41 samples tested positive for GMOs. The proportion of samples that tested positive increased to 7.5% compared to previous years (4.9% (2021) and 5.0% (2020)). The frequent positive findings for GMO in rapeseed (15.4% of the rapeseed samples tested) were particularly striking. The events GT73 and MON88302 were detected in very small proportions of less than 0.1% (source: https://www.ua-bw.de/pub/beitrag.asp?subid=3&Thema_ID=17&ID=3765&lang=DE&Pdf=No).
Botanical impurities in mustard
In addition to these findings, rapeseed was also increasingly detected as a botanical contaminant in mustard samples (20.6% of the mustard samples examined contained rapeseed and thus also GMO Canola). Rapeseed is used as an oilseed for the production of edible oils. The raw materials are used for the GMO analysis, as there is very little DNA in the end product. Rapeseed is not used as an ingredient in making mustard. Mustard seed and rapeseed can hardly be distinguished in appearance. During processing, mustard may be contaminated with rapeseed. GMO Canola was also detected in the botanically contaminated samples. MS8, Rf3 and GT73 Canola were detected.
New challenges related to food safety
In the case of the rapeseed samples that tested positive, it cannot be ruled out that part of the rapeseed was imported. It is reasonable to assume that the contamination is due to changes in the flow of goods as a result of the war in Ukraine or to failed harvests in important growing countries. Due to these worldwide changes, we believe that the topic of food safety will continue to gain in importance in the future.
Multiplex qPCR for detection of GMO Canola
R-Biopharm AG offers several multiplex GMO Canola kits that allow simultaneous screening for multiple parameters: SureFood GMO ID 4plex Canola I (GT73, MS8 and T45 oilseed rape) and SureFood GMO ID 4plex Canola II (RF3 oilseed rape, MON88302 and DP073496 oilseed rape). A quantitative kit is also available specifically for GT73 canola: SureFood® GMO QUANT GT73 Canola (https://www.r-biopharm.com).