On 20 December last, Minister Adema informed the House of Representatives to commission research for policy options of genetic modification (GMO) of food. In his letter, Adema talks about 'precision fermentation'. He adopted a motion dated 6 July 2023 in which MP Gündoğan (Group Gündoğan) called for Dutch industry to take a leading role on GMO and remove objections. With the new GMO, scientists programme microbes to make specific, modified molecules, including making meat substitutes that taste the same.

But opponents say that a newly inserted gene sometimes has unintended effects on the organism's original genetic material. And of these, the consequences cannot be predicted. In organic products, for example, they do not want GMO.

Nilüfer Gündoğan served as MP for Volt until 28 March 2022, which expelled her. As of then, she is party-less. She mainly dealt with finance, public health, welfare, sports, education, culture and science. Until 6 December 2023, she held the ancillary position of EU pharmaceutical strategy rapporteur.

The decision taken by Adema is:

• Wageningen Economic Research (WEcR) has been asked by LNV to conduct a study on the question from the motion, drawing on sector expertise for practical knowledge and experience.
• For the purpose of answering the motion, precision fermentation means the technique, which copies and pastes genetic sequences from genetic information behind plant and animal proteins. Thereby, animal and plant proteins are reproduced without livestock intervention and with less land use for plant cultivation.
• In responding, 'the government' means the central government, provinces and municipalities.
• To arrive at an answer to the question of the motion, the following steps will be taken:

This project uses literature review to determine what roles and resources governments can use to encourage a new innovation, and then applies that analysis to the case of precision fermentation.

o In consultation with (a delegation of) the sector and LNV, WEcR will further specify this analysis.

o Finally, we will move on to an analysis of what barriers currently exist in policies or regulations (national and local) that prevent these steps from being taken, or too few.

o This analysis is carried out through the interviews with sector advocates and actors in the sector.

• The plan is to be able to share the results of the survey with the Chamber early next year.

GMO on label

Currently, it is still mandatory to label GM ingredients if there is more than 0.9% of a GMO ingredient in a product. For pre-packaged products containing or consisting of GMOs, the label must include the following statement "This product contains genetically modified organisms" or "This product contains genetically modified [name of organism(s)]"

The labelling of milk, meat or eggs from animals fed with GM feed does not have to mention this. There is currently debate in Europe whether products developed with CRISPR-Cas should also be labelled.

Label may say 'prepared without genetic engineering'

The label may say 'prepared without genetic engineering' if the product does not contain genetically modified ingredients. It must also not contain ingredients made using genetically modified organisms. Furthermore, in the case of animal products, livestock must not have been fed genetically modified food.

Source: Decision note accompanying Parliament letter on approach to answer Gündoğan precision fermentation motion | Policy note | Rijksoverheid.nl