Monitoring the prevalence of genetically modified (GM) soybean in Turkish food and feed products

Abstract

Soybean is the most widely cultivated genetically modified (GM) crop, and an ingredient in many foodstuffs worldwide. Legislation in the EU and Turkey only allows approved GM events to be imported, and requires labelling of food products containing >0.9% GM ingredients. In order to assess compliance with this legislation, 75 soy-containing Turkish food and feed products (none of which were labelled as GM) were successfully screened for the presence of four GM elements (CaMV 35S/tNOS/bar/FMV 35S). All positive samples were then tested for the 3GM soybean events approved for use in animal feeds in Turkey (RRS, MON89788 & A2704-12) by real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). GM soybean was a major ingredient in 15 out of 19 animal feeds tested; it was also detected in some food samples (6/56), although at low levels. These findings provide the most comprehensive study to date of the penetration of GM soybean into the Turkish market.