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Add as a favourite source on Google Add DutchNews as a favourite source on GoogleMore genetically modified food is likely to appear in Dutch stores when rules on licensing and labelling are relaxed in two years’ time.

The European parliament passed a law before the summer recess allowing food retailers to stock products containing GM ingredients without labelling them as such, as long as they account for less than 1% of the contents.

The more flexible law was brought in to offset the effect of stricter limits on pesticides, which the EU wanted to halve by 2030, so that growers could use genetic modification to make their crops more resistant to parasites.

But two years ago the EU dropped the pesticides bill, which commission president Ursula von der Leyen said had become “a symbol of polarisation”, while still going ahead with the relaxation of GM rules.

Food products that have been significantly changed by genetic modification will still have to be licensed and labelled under the current rules.

Michelle Habets, a researcher at the Rathenau Institute, a science and technology think tank based in The Hague, said the more flexible rules risked undermining public confidence in supermarkets and other food retailers.

She told NOS she had spoken to dozens of consumers about the new law while it was passing through the European parliament. “Everyone agreed that genetically modified crops should be labelled,” she said.

“People admitted they don’t always study every label in the supermarket, but they think transparency is important, as is the freedom of choice for people who don’t want to eat those crops for whatever reason.”

Jeroen Candel, associate professor of food and agricultural policy at Wageningen University, said GM crops could bring benefits by reducing the need for pesticides, but added a note of caution.

“The new law is based on the idead that we can optimalise the current system of agriculture with new technology,” he said. “But if we do that, we are maintaining a system that is not sustainable in terms of climate and biodiversity.”

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