The Food Standards Agency and the Food and Drink Federation have slammed moves from Brussels to tighten up GM labelling regulations as "ridiculous and unworkable". Under a proposal approved in its first reading at the European Parliament this week, manufacturers would have to label products derived from GM crops, regardless of whether GMOs are detectable in the final product. This would mean thousands of products containing ingredients such as vegetable oil that are derived from GM soya or maize would have to be labelled on the basis of a paper trail rather than a scientific test, said the Federation. "This is ridiculous and open to fraud. Labelling has to be based on detectability." Under the new regime, which now goes to the Council of Ministers for approval, the threshold for labelling would also be reduced from 1% to 0.5% ­ a proposal the FSA says is unworkable given the difficulties in testing for the current 1% limit. "When the testing methods improve," said a spokeswoman, "then we can think about reducing the threshold." GM animal feeds would also have to be labelled, although an amendment calling for labelling of milk, meat and eggs from animals fed on a GM diet was defeated. While pressure groups welcomed the move as a victory for consumer choice, the FSA said it had "no bearing on reality". "This proposal is simply not enforceable," said its spokeswoman. "If the final product does not contain GMOs, you are completely reliant on paper trails." The FDF said it fully supported the FSA's stance. "To require technology based labelling enforced only by a paper trail could encourage fraud," said a spokeswoman. However, the fact that the proposals had only passed by a very small majority meant there was still hope of altering the outcome before the second reading, she added. {{NEWS }}