U.S. Grain Exporters to Pay Dearly for Labels 

ANNE FITZGERALD / Des Moines Register 23nov03

Ames, IA.—New labeling requirements in Europe will make U.S. crops more costly to export and could open U.S. farmers and grain handlers to new liabilities, participants said at a recent forum here.

The regulations—now in draft form—are being considered by European Union member nations. The final regulations could come as soon as next year. The regulations are expected to require U.S. exporters of grain to certify whether their shipments contain genetically engineered crops. In addition, food and livestock feed product labels will have to indicate whether ingredients have been derived from genetically engineered crops.

Consumers have a right to know what is in their food, said Jean Ferriere, a top trade official with the European Commission in Brussels, who was the featured speaker at Iowa State University event.

But farmers, country elevator managers and others at the forum called the coming regulations trade-restrictive. They also called the EU's grain sampling and testing recommendations cumbersome and costly.

Ferriere said the regulations would not be binding. But he also said shipments with no such certification likely would be tested when they arrived in Europe.

About half of U.S. soybeans are exported, and Europe is a major market. More than 80 percent of U.S. soybean acreage this year was planted with genetically engineered Roundup Ready soybeans. The EU approved importation of Roundup Ready soybeans several years ago, but the EU's new labeling regulations jeopardize those exports, industry officials said.

The EU's pending requirements are "just another in a line of ways to impede the flow of grain to the European Union," said Kurt Leeds, executive director of the Iowa Soybean Association. "That's the issue that really eats at farmers across this country."

But Ferriere dismissed such objections, saying that EU-produced farm commodities would be subject to the new requirements, too.