This article is reprinted from the July 3 edition of U.S. Grains Council's Global Update.

A monumental decision was taken on Tuesday by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.

The Commission adopted the guidelines proposed nearly a year ago on Food Safety Assessment in Situation of Low-Level Presence of Recombinant-DNA Plant Material.

The guidelines provide a roadmap to allow countries to arrive at a tolerable allowance of low-level presence of unapproved biotech varieties for grains and other products.

“In a lot of export markets there have been very few, if any, regulatory mechanisms to address the unintentional occurrence of low-level presence of unapproved biotech events,” said Erick Erickson, U.S. Grains Council special assistant for planning, evaluation and projects.

“Without universal science-based guidelines, importers of grains from the United States have found it difficult to mitigate the risk associated with the asynchronous approval of biotech events around the world.

"With these new guidelines, countries can choose to move away from their current policies of zero thresholds for events authorized in one or more countries but not in the country of import.

"This development in Codex is another tool to help improve the free flow of genetically enhanced grains.”

The Commission was established in 1963 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization to serve as the world’s source of developing internationally acceptable food standards that assist in avoiding trade disruptions.

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