The Clean Food Movement, which is made up of 21 NGOs, today requested that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat declare Malta a GMO free zone.

The Movement is also requesting the newly elected MEPs to encourage the rest of the European Parliament to do the same in Europe.

During a protest held in Valletta, the Clean Food Movement said that to this very day, Malta lacks an accredited laboratory to carry out tests on food for chemical residues and GMOs that can be presented as evidence in Court.

“Since all tests have to be assigned to laboratory abroad, this is creating an unwarranted delay in the food control system encouraging abuse by some unscrupulous producers and processors. It is evident that the authorities are also lacking an efficient and effective enforcement structure to guarantee the continuous safety of the consumer,” the Movement said.

 

Speaking during a dialogue session held after the protest, Justin Zahra, the Director of Agriculture, said that Malta is bound to respect European regulations when it comes to the use of GMOs.